British MP star of Operation Flashpoint

A little-known British Labour MP was revealed as the star of the world’s biggest-selling military computer game.

James Plaskitt, the MP for Warwick and Leamington, plays the gung-ho platoon commander in Operation Flashpoint, which has sold more than a million copies since its release last summer and has been adopted by the US military for combat training.

His starring role came about during a visit to the Warwickshire headquarters of the computer game’s makers, Codemasters.

Mr Plaskitt said: ‘‘When I arrived they were taking a lot of photographs to go with this new computer game and asked if I would mind if they took some of me.’’