THE privatised military “married quarters” housing is widely accepted to be of miserable quality, leaving service families in grim, damp, mouldy, sometimes vermin-infested properties. It’s a scandal referred to last week, but it’s worth more attention.

Looking closely, it’s remarkable how many “political insiders” are making money from the businesses behind the miserable houses. The whole affair shows that the politicians who like to talk about “patriotism” and “the importance of the armed forces” also seem happy to leave soldiers and their families to live in squalor.

In 1996, the then-Tory government sold all military “married quarters” houses to Annington Homes. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) then leases back the 38,000 homes to house military families. The houses are now known as service families accommodation, because servicemen and women can have families without being married.