The Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon has today visited some of the 1,500 British personnel currently exercising across five countries in Europe, joining NATO allies in a sign of solidarity against any potential threat.

Sir Michael met with the troops in Romania, including the UK’s 20th Armoured Brigade as part of NATO’s Very High Readiness Joint Task Force Land component, which the UK took the lead of in January this year. The approximately 500-strong British force have been deployed on Exercise Noble Jump, working alongside 14 partner nations and testing NATO’s ability to deploy forces quickly and in response to a crisis.

Elsewhere in Europe, a company of 45 Commando of the Royal Marines joined the US-led Sabre Strike exercise in Latvia and Lithuania, working alongside Norwegian and Polish forces. Troops from the Light Dragoons and amphibious engineers from 75 Engineer Regiment also joined the exercise in Poland while the Enhanced Forward Presence Battlegroup 5 Rifles exercised in Estonia.

Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said:

The UK is playing a leading role in the NATO alliance and with around 1,500 British personnel exercising in Europe this week, nowhere can this be seen more clearly than in this region. We are standing side by side with our allies in the East, a sign of our unwavering commitment to European security.

While in the country, Sir Michael is also visiting Royal Air Force personnel deployed to Romania as part of the NATO Southern Air Policing mission.

The detachment of four Typhoon fighter jets from 3 Fighter Squadron has been based in Mihail Kogalniceanu Airbase in south east Romania since May. Deployed for up to four months, they are working alongside the Romanian Air Force to police the skies over the Black Sea.

Secretary of State for Defence Sir Michael Fallon added:

The UK is stepping up in its support for NATO’s collective defence from the north to the south of the alliance. Through this deployment, RAF planes will be ready to secure NATO airspace and provide reassurance to allies in the Black Sea region.

During his visit, Sir Michael toured the airbase and spoke with RAF personnel deployed on the Mission. The Defence Secretary also witnessed the fighter jets participate in a practice Quick Reaction Alert.

The MDP deployments involved close co-operation with the various Home Office Police Forces that had requested support, and with the 1,000 military personnel who were mobilised at the same time.

In the first 24 hours following the activation of Operation Temperer, MDP officers were deployed to support 8 police forces across England and Wales. This number increased to 18 over the Bank Holiday weekend, with up to a quarter of the force’s total strength of Authorised Firearms Officers deployed to provide reassurance to the public at a variety of iconic sites, crowded places and public and major sporting events around the country.

The MDP also provided armed officers to support British Transport Police with keeping the rail network safe, including at London transport hubs, and MDP officers were also deployed at Stansted Airport to support Essex Police.

The busiest day for the MDP was Saturday 27 May, when the force supported policing operations at 60 public events across England and Wales, including high profile music concerts, festivals and sporting occasions.

These included:

• Chester Races
• Radio One Big Weekend in Hull
• Tall Ships Festival at Gloucester Docks
• Iron Maiden concert at London’s O2 venue.

The police forces who received support from the MDP ranged from the Metropolitan Police Service in London to Dyfed-Powys in Wales, and from West Mercia to South Yorkshire, a response described by MDP Gold Commander Assistant Chief Constable Paul McLaughlin as ‘extraordinary’. He said:

We responded exceptionally well. The professional manner and attitude of our officers and staff was first class. We provided very large numbers of officers in response to what was requested, and the transition at local level in terms of military personnel back-filling for the MDP also went very smoothly.

Advance planning was key to the success of the MDP deployments, together with solid liaison with the National Police Co-ordination Centre and the Operations Directorate, he added.

And MDP Deputy Chief Constable Andy Adams commented:

The MOD response to Operation Temperer has been impressive and I know that the wider department will be expressing their own support for what their colleagues have been doing. I would like to take the opportunity to recognise the important role MDP officers and staff undertake through our dual focus at times like this: our role within the MOD and that of delivering a policing service which can be called upon outside of the department.

Critical incidents always generate the ‘can do’ attitude in those who are operationally focused; people put themselves out, are prepared to endure long hours and simply want to get on with the job. For these people, public service overrides personal interests and other commitments.

I saw many examples of that throughout this operation. There has been an enthusiastic approach to ‘getting the job done’ and I, for one, am extremely grateful for the commitment of everyone involved.

The Cabinet is as follows:

• Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service – Rt Hon Theresa May MP
• First Secretary of State, and Minister for the Cabinet Office – Rt Hon Damian Green MP
• Chancellor of the Exchequer – Rt Hon Philip Hammond MP
• Secretary of State for the Home Department – Rt Hon Amber Rudd MP
• Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs – Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP
• Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union – Rt Hon David Davis MP
• Secretary of State for Defence – Rt Hon Sir Michael Fallon KCB MP
• Secretary of State for Health – Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP
• Lord Chancellor; and Secretary of State for Justice*– Rt Hon David Lidington CBE MP
• Secretary of State for Education, and Minister for Women and Equalities – Rt Hon Justine Greening MP
• Secretary of State for International Trade, and President of the Board of Trade – Rt Hon Liam Fox MP
• Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy – Rt Hon Greg Clark MP
• Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – Rt Hon Michael Gove MP
• Secretary of State for Transport – Rt Hon Chris Grayling MP
• Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government – Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP
• Lord Privy Seal, and Leader of the House of Lords – Rt Hon Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
• Secretary of State for Scotland – Rt Hon David Mundell MP
• Secretary of State for Wales – Rt Hon Alun Cairns MP
• Secretary of State for Northern Ireland – Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP
• Secretary of State for International Development – Rt Hon Priti Patel MP
• Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport – Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP
• Secretary of State for Work and Pensions – Rt Hon David Gauke MP
• Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster* – Rt Hon Sir Patrick McLoughlin MP

The following also attend Cabinet:

• Chief Secretary to the Treasury – Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP
• Lord President of the Council, and Leader of the House of Commons – Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP
• Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip) – Rt Hon Gavin Williamson CBE MP
• Attorney General – Rt Hon Jeremy Wright QC MP
• Minister of State (for Immigration), Home Office – Rt Hon Brandon Lewis MP

Further appointments will be added to this list as they are announced.

*unpaid

Prince Harry joined the 2017 UK team of Wounded, Injured and Sick (WIS) Service personnel and veterans for their first official team photograph at the Tower of London today. Following the unveiling, Prince Harry, who is patron of the Invictus Games Foundation, joined competitors at a reception in Plaisterers Hall.

The Invictus Games harness the power of sport to inspire recovery and generate wider understanding and respect for those who serve their country. Getting involved in sport provides significant physical and mental health benefits including increasing self-confidence and psychological empowerment.

More than 300 WIS personnel and veterans applied for one of 90 places available on the team. Selection criteria included the benefit the Invictus Games will give an individual as part of their recovery, combined with performance and commitment to training. 62% of the team are new to the Invictus Games with only 8% having competed in the two previous games, London 2014 and Orlando 2016.

The UK team will join 16 other nations at the third Invictus Games from 23-30 September in Toronto, Canada. They will compete across 12 sports: athletics, archery, wheelchair basketball, road cycling, powerlifting, indoor rowing, wheelchair rugby, swimming, sitting volleyball, wheelchair tennis, the Jaguar Land Rover Driving Challenge, and a new sport for 2017, golf.

The 2017 UK team captain has been named as former Army Major Bernie Broad. He served in the Grenadier Guards for around 30 years and due to injuries sustained in an explosion in Afghanistan 2009 lost both his legs below the knee.

He said:

The Invictus Games are empowering and inspire all of us as competitors to be the best version of ourselves. It allows us to be judged on what we can achieve, rather than what we can’t.

To simply be selected for the UK Team was an amazing achievement. To then be further selected as the UK Team Captain filled me with such immense pride and it is a huge privilege to be given this honour.

Between now and the Games, training will take place across the country at recovery centres and other external venues to train and develop the team.

The UK delegation to the Invictus Games Toronto 2017 is being delivered by a partnership comprising The Ministry of Defence (MOD), Help for Heroes, and The Royal British Legion.

The full team list can be found on the Help for Heroes website.

Today (29 May) is the annual International Day of UN Peacekeepers, which was marked by a number of events in London on Wednesday.

The day also commemorates those who have lost their lives while serving on Peacekeeping operations. Over 100 UK service personnel make up part of more than 3,500 personnel from around the world who have died serving as UN Peacekeepers since 1948, and they were remembered during a ceremony and wreath-laying at the Cenotaph.

Commander of Joint Forces Command General Sir Chris Deverell and Foreign Office Minister for Asia and Pacific Alok Sharma laid wreaths during the event, and wreaths were also laid by representatives from nearly 100 Embassies and High Commissions, the Chief Inspector of the Constabulary, UN Veterans Association, widows and schoolchildren.

The Band of the Welsh Guards performed at the wreath-laying, and Wednesday’s events also included a Conference at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI), opened by Vice Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir Gordon Messenger.

Over 690 UK military personnel are currently deployed in support of multiple UN Peacekeeping missions, the majority in South Sudan, Cyprus and Somalia. The largest of these deployments, with nearly 400 British troops now deployed, is in South Sudan to support the UN’s mission in country.

Commander of Joint Forces Command General Sir Chris Deverell said:

Today, on the International Day of UN Peacekeepers, we pay tribute to the 3,500 personnel from over 120 countries who have died while serving the United Nations. When peacekeepers deploy they do so on behalf of the international community and in support of efforts by previously warring parties to find a path to peace. I am grateful to each person who deploys, and very proud that over 690 members of the UK Armed Forces are currently deployed as part of this effort.

The UK contribution to the UN Mission in South Sudan includes engineering tasks and the construction and running of a temporary field hospital, to be followed by a permanent facility which will provide medical care for over 1,800 UN Peacekeepers and UN staff.