Johnny Mercer

Johnny Mercer, Conservative MP for Plymouth Moor View since 2015, is a former British Army officer and perhaps best-known for his (now overturned) refusal to back his party’s policies in parliament until prosecutions of soldiers for actions whilst on duty were halted. A published author, with recollections of his military career chronicled in the book, We Were Warriors: One Soldier’s Story of Brutal Combat, he has since campaigned for better mental health support for veterans, telling the Telegraph, “If you make a decision to send people away on operations, it is your duty to look after them when they return.” Mercer is a member of the Defence Committee and Defence sub-Committee. He has described himself and Boris Johnson as “One Nation Conservatives”, and vocally supported Johnson to support Theresa May as Conservative leader. In early 2019, Mercer was a particularly vocal critic of the system of the prosecution of historic allegations directed at British Army officers formerly stationed in Northern Ireland. That same year, he became parliamentary secretary to the Cabinet Office as well as minister of state for defence people and veterans in the Ministry of Defence.