Bill Rammell MP was appointed Minister of State for the Armed Forces on 8th June 2009.
Bill Rammell was elected Member of Parliament for Harlow in 1997. He was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Tessa Jowell in June 2001, and promoted to Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign Office in October 2002.
Bill Rammell also served on the Education and Employment Committee in 2000 and was also a member of a Select Committee on European Scrutiny in 2001. Before entering Parliament, he was the general manager of the University of London Union, Head of Youth Services for Basildon Council and worked for the National Union of Students and British Rail. He was a member of Harlow District Council from 1985 to 1997. He was President of Cardiff University Students Union in 1982/83. Bill Rammell is married with two children who are educated in local secondary schools.
He was appointed Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in October 2008 where his responsibilities included the Middle East (including Iraq and Iran), Counter Terrorism, Counter Proliferation, the Far East and South East Asia, North America, Drugs and International Crime, Migration Policy, and Leads on Afghanistan, South Asia and UN in Commons.
Responsibilities
Leads on:
• All matters regarding Regular and Reserve Armed Forces
• Operations including Iraq, Counter-Terrorism, UK Operations,
Northern Ireland and the Balkans
• Bilateral defence relations outside the NATO/Europe area
• Inquiries, Boards of Inquiry, Inquests
• Legal issues including detention
• Arms and Export Control
• Regional issues and the devolved Administrations
• Agencies: DASA and DVA