A YORK MP has been elected president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly - and one of his tasks will be to make it more transparent.

York Central MP Hugh Bayley was elected by colleagues from NATO’s 28 member states and has started his two-year term with a visit to Afghanistan to write a progress report on responsibility for security in the war-torn country is being passed to its own armed forces and police.

Next month will see him travel to Washington to meet members of the US Congress who recently voted to cut American spending on NATO and defence in Europe.