Britain | Bagehot

For some MPs Afghanistan is personal as well as political

The struggles of a group shaped by the conflict

THE FIRST two decades of this century saw the rise of a new type of politician, or perhaps a new version of an old type of politician: young MPs shaped by one of the most difficult environments in the world, Afghanistan. Johnny Mercer, a former commando, gave his maiden speech about a friend who had died in his arms. Several of his new colleagues—Tom Tugendhat and James Heappey on the Conservative benches and Dan Jarvis and Clive Lewis on the Labour ones—had also fought on the ground.

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “The sun also sets”

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