Ian Roome MP Chosen for Defence Select Committee

Ian Roome MP is one of two Lib Dem MPs who have been appointed to a seat on the House of Commons Defence Select Committee.

A former Royal Air Force veteran who served in Germany and at RAF Chivenor during the late 1980s, and inside the Ministry of Defence during the First Gulf War, Ian Roome will be one of two Liberal Democrat MPs chosen to serve on the new committee in the new Parliament.

Ian Roome said: "It is a great honour to be chosen for this particular role. Select Committees are where the real work of Parliament is done, and I look forward to getting to grips with important armed forces policy questions, veterans’ issues, and the long-term security of the UK."

“The UK faces a more dangerous World – we must be vigilant about maintaining our own strength and that of our international allies.”

The other Liberal Democrat seat on the Committee will be filled by Mike Martin MP (Tunbridge Wells), a highly-experienced former Army Captain who served in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Select Committee memberships are appointed from across the major political parties, and the Defence Committee examines the expenditure, administration and policy of the Ministry of Defence and its associated public bodies.

The largest third-party in Parliament for more than a century, Liberal Democrat MPs have been chosen for an unprecedented number of Select Committee seats in the new Parliament.

The Committee are expected to reconvene in late October, and the new Chairperson will be Labour's Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi MP (Slough).