The MoD’s refusal to acknowledge military sexual trauma must change
Jaysley Beck’s mother addresses the media outside the coroner’s court, February 2025 (PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo)
3 min read
The challenges in defence are enormous. A constantly changing fiscal envelope being asked to match diversifying and growing threats; friends becoming less friendly and alliances being tested daily. All whilst facing the most difficult set of international challenges the UK has faced for decades.
But there are things you can control. How we treat our people defined my 10 years in politics. I worked hard to improve things, with varying degrees of success. But one thing I did learn was that to really deliver change, that change must be truly meaningful to those who need it most.
I did this chiefly for veterans. When I started, I was constantly told at every turn how much was being done for veterans, and why I should really acknowledge that, rather than bring in meaningful change. This attitude persisted chiefly in the Ministry of Defence (MoD), and right up until I left office. My last battle to get the MoD to recognise military sexual trauma (MST) was unsuccessful. They still refuse to use the term, despite what it would mean for veterans affected by MST – and despite all the academic, scientific, and professional bodies in other peer countries recognising it as a form of trauma that is unique to military personnel (for a variety of reasons I won’t go into here).
Experts have long advocated taking serious and sexual offences away from military investigations teams
I didn’t argue this for myself. I have not personally encountered any issues from my service that I have required support for. (I do have appalling hearing, which is extremely isolating and impairs my life significantly but, incredibly, according to the military this has nothing to do with my service in combat.)
I argued it for the survivors. Because in reality, commanders and political leaders can do all they like to change a system to look after people. But until it actually feels different to that specific cohort, for whom you are making those efforts, it is a forlorn endeavour.
For all my mistakes, fights, outbursts and sackings, what drove me was a focus on what it felt like to be a veteran in the UK. I tried to turn the telescope around – to empathise deeply with veterans in and only when they told me – as they did – that ‘veterans have never had it so good’ did I start to believe I was getting somewhere.
It is in this precise line that government must now do what we failed to do on serious and sexual offences. Experts have long advocated taking serious and sexual offences away from military investigations teams. Not because they can’t do it – the Defence Serious Crime Unit set up by Ben Wallace has improved skillsets enormously, and I indeed expect the data around convictions to now improve.
But if politics has taught me anything, it is the implied conflict of interest that’s key. The perception of marking one’s own homework matters just as much as the reality in these incredibly sensitive areas. It is uncomfortable, but it requires a level of emotional intelligence that passes so many senior military leaders by – they appear powerful and untouchable; they can’t remember the last time someone said no to them.
But if you are junior, if you are vulnerable, if you are a survivor of MST, you need that reassurance around independence. The integrity of the system must be beyond reproach if it is to start regaining some of the confidence destroyed by the MoD’s handling of appalling cases like that of 19-year-old Gunner Jaysley Beck, who took her own life after being sexually assaulted by a senior officer. Only when victims can truly feel that we mean “never again”, can we begin to comfort ourselves that real change is happening for those who need it most.
Johnny Mercer is the former Conservative MP for Plymouth Moor View and minister for veterans’ affairs
