This should never have been necessary

Occasionally our politicians do something right, more often than not they do it for the wrong reasons though. Making the military covenant a binding law on government makes for a great soundbite, but it really should scarcely have been necessary if politicians and civil servants who run the Ministry of Defence had any shred of honour in the first place.

Telegraph.

There had been fears that David Cameron was moving away from a pre-election pledge to give the armed forces “a new military covenant that’s written into the law of the land”.

Many in the services were disappointed with the wording of the Armed Forces Bill which is currently going through Parliament.

The defence minister overseeing the Armed Forces Bill, Andrew Robathan said the Coalition would “ensure the best possible treatment for all our Service personnel, both serving and retired”. He also added: “We are putting the military covenant on a statutory basis for the first time.” 

 Those who put their lives at risk for their country have often been treated with contempt by the powers that be and even some of their own countrymen, the Poem by Kipling  "Tommy" makes this prejudice against them fairly clear even from the past. Yet respect should automatically be their due, it should not have to be enshrined in law, yet such has been their treatment by the previous government that it now will be.
It's hopefully going to be a good and useful statute, it's just a crying shame it became necessary.