Has the Minister for Veterans' Affairs pledged to have his eyebrows shaved off if he doesn't deliver on the latest timeline of the long-awaited Veterans ID Card?
In a post on Twitter, MP Johnny Mercer thanked former service personnel for completing a survey to help officials shape future policy and added: "ID cards coming this year, as promised."
The veterans' minister was immediately challenged on the promised delivery by the popular 'military banter' site Fill Your Boots.
They asked Mr Mercer to "Robogen", a common military phrase asking someone to commit to the veracity of what they have said and, if it's found to be untrue, have their head shaved by their peers like Peter Weller as Officer Alex Murphy in the movie Robocop.
Not to be outdone, Mr Mercer – a former Army officer – went one further and responded simply with: "Eyebrows", another military term that means someone pledges to have them shaved off if they don't follow through on what they've said, or it turns out to be a lie.
In 2019, ministers pledged to provide every veteran with an ID card to enable them quicker access to health, housing, and charity services.
Many former service personnel responded to Mr Mercer's tweet to say that they would be holding him to account over his "eyebrows" comment and his wife, Felicity Cornelius-Mercer tweeted: "I go on one 8-hour lifeguard shift and come back to @JohnnyMercerUK saying 'eyebrows' to veterans ID cards for this year Best get the printer going tomorrow @MilitaryBanter isn't going to forget this."
As of November 2022, data from the Office for National Statistics reveals that only 56,000 ID cards have been handed out since 2018, despite there being more than 1.8 million veterans in England and Wales.
That could, Labour says, mean all of those entitled to a card would, in theory, be waiting 125 years to receive it.
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