NORTH Wiltshire MP James Gray is delighted to have been given the countryside portfolio as part of a reshuffle of the Shadow Cabinet.

He was called before opposition Chief Whip David Maclean on Tuesday to be thanked for the job he has done in defence and to be given the job of shadow countryside minister.

"I was delighted by this. It is something that as an MP for a rural constituency I am very interested in."

It means that Mr Gray will play a key role in the coming debate on hunting.

As a regular follower of the hounds, he is a hunt supporter but stressed the debate should be about freedom of choice.

He also hopes to fight the corner for village shops and post offices and highlight the need for better rural transport and the problem of rural poverty.

But Mr Gray stressed that his move from defence would in no way diminish his campaign to save RAF Lyneham.

He believes he can make a real difference in his new role.

"So many areas of our rural life are currently under threat farming, tourism, the freedom to choose with regard to country sports are perhaps the most obvious," he said.

"But planning policy, house building, transport, rural poverty and deprivation will also be an important part of my new new job."

Defence for future may help Lyneham

NORTH Wiltshire MP James Gray believes the newly published Strategic Defence Review strengthens the argument for saving RAF Lyneham.

The Government document released last week emphasises the need for troops to be able to move quickly from one hot spot to another.

Mr Gray said: "I think this part of the report is hopeful and helpful for our Lyneham campaign.

"It makes it clear that flexibility is important and that troop carriers such as the Hercules are an integral part of that.

"I think it strengthens our case for keeping both Lyneham and Brize Norton."

But Mr Gray, who until Tuesday was

the Conservative shadow spokesman on defence, issued a word of caution. He said: "It would be easy to read too much into it but my gut reaction is that we are going to win the day.

"I am still getting tremendous response from the community and while I don't want to be too optimistic I think we can do this."

The Gazette joined forces with Mr Gray last autumn to fight to save RAF Lyneham when it was announced the base could close when new aircraft are introduced.

It is feared all of the A400M aircraft could be based at Brize Norton, and RAF personnel moved from Lyneham to the Oxfordshire base.

Mr Gray presented a protest petition with 11,600 names on it to Parliament earlier this year but a decision is not expected until the autumn.

The Gazette took the opportunity to present defence secretary Geoffrey Hoon with the latest dossier of Lyneham support documents when he visited an Army display on Salisbury Plain earlier this month.

At the time he pledged to listen to all the arguments before making a decision.

The review was prepared by Mr Hoon in the wake of the September 11 attacks in New York.

In it he said the strategic review had concentrated on the issues highlighted by the unprovoked attacks. A full defence White Paper covering a more comprehensive range of defence issues will be published in 2003.

But one of the sections in the strategic review which has given Mr Gray heart is on countering terrorism abroad.

Under this heading the report says: "It requires the ability to deploy and redeploy rapidly, and it has potential implications for the mix of forces that are used.

"For instance some theatres and scenarios, like Afghanistan, may point towards the use of rapidly deployable light forces rather than armoured or mechanised forces and artillery."

Mr Gray believes this may mean that troop carriers such as those flying out of Lyneham will be given higher priority.

But the report also concludes that defence provision needs to continue to change away from those used to combat the threat of the cold war.

It says it should move towards the capabilities that meet new threats and challenges.

Mr Gray said he is concerned the review gives the impression of greater defence spending.

"It makes much of defence spending being £3.5 billion by 2006 but in real terms this is a cut," he said.