Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Jamie Stone trades Westminster for the Arctic in Royal Marines fact finding mission

Lib Dem MP Jamie Stone at the Royal Marines' base in Bardufoss
Lib Dem MP Jamie Stone at the Royal Marines' base in Bardufoss

A Highlands MP has paid tribute to the Royal Marines after trading Westminster for one of their elite training bases in the Arctic.

Jamie Stone spent five days with the marines battling subzero temperatures at their facility in Bardufoss, Norway as part of the armed forces parliamentary scheme.

The scheme was founded by Sir Neil Thorne, a former Tory MP, in 1988 to give parliamentarians a clearer idea of what life is like for service personnel.

Mr Stone, who journeyed back from the base on Friday with eight other MPs, said the experience had opened his eyes to the “harsh realities of being on the front line”.

Jamie Stone with fellow MPs on a trip to Bardufoss

The action man MP said: “The trip was really interesting but it was tough, a hell of a struggle, I’ve never been so tired.

“We were in uniform and we were embedded with our troops, we ate with them, slept in the same tents and accompanied them on training, that’s the only way you can get a real taste for what they do, you can’t just jet in and out in a suit.

“We really got on with the lads and women who worked up there and we made a mental note of what they were saying, it means when we stand up in the House of Commons we know what they need. It also means, God-forbid if were to ever go to war we would take that vote extremely seriously having now met those serving.”

Several hundred troops are stationed at the base and Mr Stone said that all were “prepared and ready to go”, especially while tensions with Russia remain strained.

Despite shivering under the Northern Lights in their Second World War vintage canvas tents, the 64-year-old Cairthness MP explained Brexit was never far from conversation.

He said: “One of the soldiers threw a hand grenade of a question and asked us what was going on with Brexit, it very quickly turned back to Westminster with MPs arguing their position but it was -21C and our backsides were frozen and the ridiculousness of the situation all made us laugh.

“What a week to be away though, with the defections from Labour and Tory MPs’ phones were buzzing with updates and soldiers were coming over asking if we’d heard the latest news.

“It was a truly inspirational experience and we won’t forget it.”