Book review: Andrew Murrison on the military covenant
By Mark Pack Taking its title from Rudyard Kipling's famous poem, this book by South West Wiltshire MP Andrew Murrison is rather a mixed bag. There is much that is interesting and thoughtful in his study of how wider society views and treats the military in Britain, but that is rather let down by a meandering structure which results in some topics being returned to frequently, the flow within many chapters being unclear and indeed the actual origins of the military covenant being largely unmentioned. We get a little detail of who first wrote the words and when, but almost nothing about what triggered the words to be written by that person at that time nor what, if any, difference the writing of the words and the coining of the phrase made. I suspect the time pressures of being an MP meant Murrison did not have quite enough time to dedicate to writing the book, for some parts are very well-written, especially his moving eulogies to those who served in Bomber Command and his deft combination of praising th
