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DERMOT MURNAGHAN: What legacy will Britain leave behind in Afghanistan? British forces have left their last front line outpost in Helmand which means that Camp Bastion is the only UK controlled facility in Afghanistan.  In a moment I’ll be speaking to the Shadow Defence Secretary, Vernon Coaker.  So let’s say a very good morning to Mr Coaker who joins me now from Cotgrave in Nottinghamshire.  Mr Coaker, let’s talk about Afghanistan then  and you were there when Tony Blair sent the troops in in 2001, when British forces final leave altogether will they leave Afghanistan a better place for now and the future?  

VERNON COAKER: Good morning.  I was in Camp Bastion just recently with Ed Miliband and we saw for ourselves the excellent work that has been done and is still going on.  I think we can look with pride at the presidential elections that have just taken place, the progress that has been made with girls going to school but also alongside that, the difference that it’s made I think to the security in the region and indeed to ourselves back here in Britain.  The Defence Secretary, and I agree with him, said that we have to recognise that what we’ve done there has contributed to protecting streets here, I think it has and I think it gives us the prospect now of ensuring stability not only in Afghanistan but in the region as well.  So I think we can look with pride that the work that our troops have done there with others. 

DM: But I did ask about that security and improvement for the future, you mentioned some of the rosier and happier things that have happened but we also have in places a resurgent Taliban. 

VERNON COAKER: Well I think again, when we were at Camp Bastion Ed Miliband and I saw the training that was going on with the National Army and the police there and clearly what the British military were saying was that the quality of the Afghan security forces now was much greater than it had been in the past and they looked forward with confidence to what those Afghan security forces would be able to do in terms of keeping Afghanistan safe.  It is also important, there is a discussion going on, or there will be, between the new President and the Americans and others about a bilateral security arrangement and we’ll look to see what support is given to the Afghan people and the Afghan government after the end of 2014 when most of the combat troops have left and it’s important that that bilateral security agreement is signed.  So yes, there will be challenges and of course issues remain but as I say, the British military that I spoke to and indeed the Afghan army officers that I spoke to, had a degree of confidence about the future that they could secure the gains and keep the gains that had been made.

DM: Well let’s compare then and now in terms of size of forces.  Do you have concerns, of course after Afghanistan, 18 months or so later came Iraq and both were carried out at the same time, do you have concerns now about the strength of British forces should it come to further deployment perhaps with some of our Eastern NATO partners, that Britain would not be able to participate?

VERNON COAKER: Well I think the size of the force that we’ve got now has been assessed by senior military officers here as providing the capability we would need to deploy should we need to do so in the future.  The big question mark of course around the size of the army in particular but the size of the armed forces, has been about recruitment of the reserves and there have been issues about that and we need to make sure that the reserves, who are seen as a hugely complementary and important part of our armed forces as we go forward, that that recruitment is successful and therefore integrated into our armed forces.  I think as well alongside that that we will also need to ensure that as we move forward when we look to deploy any forces or be involved should we choose to do so, that of course we ensure that that’s fully explained to people, that we keep the confidence of the British public in the fact that Britain still has an important role to play across the world and still may in the future it may be necessary for us to be involved in some sort of challenge or issue that arises in a country abroad. 

DM: And of course an important role to play right now in Nigeria, I’m thinking of course of those hundreds of kidnapped schoolgirls and we have finally come around to it in the West just how important and serious that is.  Could Britain in your book be doing more with assistance?

VERNON COAKER: Well I think it’s good to now see the focus of attention that there now is on this appalling act by this group in Nigeria and certainly we are, as I know, willing to help and believe are already helping the Nigerian government with technical support, with the advice that they may need, with specialists from here and negotiations around hostage taking so I think it is important that where appropriate our military gives that advice and support to the Nigerian government where it’s asked for because I think not only ourselves helping in that way but other countries as well will be able to ensure that we hopefully can bring these young girls back to their families as soon as possible because as I say, all of us are simply appalled by what is happening. 

DM: Can I just ask you a couple of domestic questions, Mr Coaker.  Reading the Sunday Times Rich List today it seems there are more billionaires per head of population in the UK than anywhere else in the world.  To paraphrase Peter Mandelson, is that something Labour would be very relaxed about?

VERNON COAKER: Well I think what Labour has been saying is although we may be in a country that is seeing the return of some growth, what we’ve been saying, what Ed Miliband is saying, what the Labour party has been saying is that for the majority of people life is tougher, there is a cost of living crisis out there and irrespective of the number of billionaires there are, I think what most people would be concerned about is how they pay their energy bill, how they ensure that they have a job, how they ensure that they have better opportunities for their children and all of those areas, with the price freeze that we’ve offered, with the job guarantee that we’ve offered and the way in which the Labour party is talking about ensuring that we get growth that works for the majority of people in this country, I think that’s what people are concerned about and that’s what people want to see.  They want to see a party that offers that better view of the country, we can do better than this as Ed Miliband has said and as I say, that’s what I think most people are looking forward to, how they will benefit from any economic recovery that comes along. 

DM: I just want to get a quick thought from you on this row it seems is taking place between the coalition partners about education, about free school and Mr Gove apparently raiding one fund which the Lib Dems support his free school policy, you must be rubbing your hands. 

VERNON COAKER: Well I’m not rubbing my hands in the sense that of course it is the children of this country which suffer when you get squabbles like this but actually when you look at it, what’s happened is that money has been taken from a budget which was about providing primary school places in some of the neediest areas of the country and this has been taken in order to fund Michael Gove’s ideological zeal for free schools.  I think most people would find that appalling and I think from a Labour perspective it shows once again that when it comes to this government they put the wrong people first. 

DM: Okay, Shadow Defence Secretary, thank you very much indeed, Vernon Coaker there.