Commons
Debate
8 July 2026
2 contributions
Rearmament and Warfighting Readiness
The hon. Gentleman is making a very accurate critique. Is he aware that the Treasury Committee, led by the redoubtable hon. Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch (Dame Meg Hillier), was looking at defence funding at lunch time today, and that in that hearing, barely an hour ago, the Chief Secretar…
The hon. Member is right on the funding—I will mention that later—but one important thing that did happen after 2014 was under what was then called Operation Orbital. We began training Ukrainian soldiers on Salisbury plain, because they knew what was coming—and, I think, perhaps so did we. We will t…
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
6 July 2026
2 contributions
Support for Veterans
May I endorse your tribute to the late Sir George Howarth, Mr Speaker? May I also take this opportunity to welcome the incoming Minister for Veterans and People, the hon. Member for Leyton and Wanstead (Mr Bailey), to his new position? In the two years that he has been in the House, he has already e…
We have been waiting for those amendments almost as long as we have been waiting for the DIP. Where is the right hon. Member for Makerfield (Andy Burnham) on the legacy issue? Many regiments that hail from the north-west—such as the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, which has already mentioned once toda…
Commons
Westminster Hall
2 July 2026
3 contributions
Heart Disease and Stroke: Premature Deaths
It is a pleasure to speak in this important debate about preventing premature death from heart disease and stroke. I congratulate the hon. Member for South Ribble (Mr Foster) on securing the debate and introducing it so ably. It is courageous of him to talk about the medical challenges that he has f…
I am sorry to disappoint the hon. Gentleman, not least as he is being so kind to me, but for the record it is my wife’s bat-phone, not mine.
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Proceedings
23 June 2026
2 contributions
Defence Spending and Readiness
Will the Minister give way on that matter?
The hon. Gentleman is being very generous with his time. I want to turn to legacy. Our motion calls on the Government to drop the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill, which the Liberal Democrats, like the Conservatives, voted against on Second Reading. That Bill has now famously been described by the out…
Commons
Debate
22 June 2026
9 contributions
Armed Forces Bill
It is a privilege to follow the hon. Member for Birmingham Selly Oak (Al Carns), who I may refer to again in a few minutes. It is important to place on record the respect he has engendered across the House by resigning on an important issue of principle relating to the defence of the realm, which is…
I am old school, and I was taught that in a debate, it is polite to refer to the Member who moved the lead amendment. That is what I was seeking to do. As I think the House would realise, I am making a very different point and a different argument from him. I will have to respectfully disagree, part…
+7 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 June 2026
Local Government Reform
It is very clear from my hon. Friend’s powerful speech that his constituents in Leicestershire do not want local government reform, and my constituents in Rayleigh and Wickford in Essex do not want it either. Has he seen the letter from 16 council leaders from the County Council Network giving a who…
Commons
Debate
2 June 2026
9 contributions
Armed Forces Bill
I apologise for interrupting so early, but before the Minister gets into his stride, I would like to place firmly on the record that we are debating legislation of material importance, relating to the care of our armed forces, and yet again, there is no Reform Member of Parliament present. Does the …
I rise to speak to amendments 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, and new clauses 1, 2, 3 and 6, which appear in my name and those of my hon. Friends. I will say a little about each amendment and new clause in turn. I will also refer to new clause 5, which appears in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Hunti…
+7 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
1 June 2026
2 contributions
Armed Forces Recruitment and Retention
May I begin by saying that we Conservative Members stand four-square with the Government on their response to Romania? It is a NATO ally, and it deserves our support.
While overall trends in recruitment and retention may have stabilised, there is still a serious problem of personnel leaving the spe…
The Secretary of State said he did not recognise “my” description. It is not mine. It is in a statement of 22 April from the three special forces regimental associations. Those are not my words; they are theirs. I will ask him again. If we are to persuade people to continue serving their King and co…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
14 May 2026
2 contributions
Supreme Court Dillon Judgment
As is traditional, I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement, in that—as he said himself—the judgment in the Dillon case is a complex one. We on the Conservative Benches certainly agree. I suspect that this judgment will be pored over and, indeed, argued over at considerable …
If it believes they have co-operated—that is the nuance.
Commons
Debate
28 April 2026
Referral of Prime Minister to Committee of Privileges
My right hon. Friend is making an excellent speech, but is it not true that the post of UK ambassador to Washington would be held by someone who would therefore have access to extremely sensitive intelligence, potentially including nuclear co-operation? Surely the fact that Mandelson had been found …
Commons
Debate
27 April 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
May I take this opportunity to congratulate my right hon. Friend and Lord Nash on a hard-fought but important campaign? We now have a commitment in principle from the Government that they will ban the use of social media by under-16s, which will be welcomed across the country by concerned parents. C…
Commons
Debate
20 April 2026
2 contributions
Security Vetting
If, as we have been assured, there was no law that prevented the permanent under-secretary from telling the Prime Minister the outcome of Mandelson’s developed vetting, then presumably by the same token there was no law that prevented the Prime Minister from asking. Can he be very clear with the Hou…
Come on.
Commons
Debate
15 April 2026
2 contributions
Strategic Defence Review: Funding
(Urgent Question) : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on his plans to fund the recommendations of the strategic defence review.
Labour’s strategic defence review had three co-authors. I would like to ask the Minister a question about each of them in turn. Does he agree with Dr Fiona Hill that there is a “bizarre” lack of urgency in Government defence planning?
Does he agree with General Sir Richard Barrons, co-author of the…
Commons
Committee Stage
14 April 2026
5 contributions
Armed Forces Bill (Fifth sitting)
I do not think we need to have a debate on clause 20 stand part because we had a pretty thorough debate on the amendment, which covered most of the issues. I will seek the leave of the Committee to withdraw the amendment, but I would like to put down the marker that we have had an interesting debate…
As the title of clause 30 is “Commissioner’s functions in relation to Royal Fleet Auxiliary”, I will ask the Minister something about the commissioner and then something about the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.
It would appear that, after some time, the Government have now announced someone to fill the pos…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Committee Stage
14 April 2026
4 contributions
Armed Forces Bill (Fourth sitting)
I beg to move amendment 9, in clause 20, page 34, line 27, at end insert “or
(iii) a retired holder of such a rank.”
This amendment would add retired officers to those qualified for membership of the Court Martial.
I again place on record our thanks to you, Mr Efford, and to our excellent Clerks and the team who organised a very good visit down to Portsmouth, where I think we learned a lot about the operation of the service courts in practice—I certainly did. A number of issues were raised in that discussion, …
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
26 March 2026
2 contributions
Gurkha Veterans
As former Officer Cadet Francois 24663730, and latterly Lieutenant Francois, 5th Battalion, the Royal Anglian Regiment (Volunteers), I am proud to be asked to sum up for His Majesty’s official Opposition in this important debate about Gurkhas and their welfare. I congratulate the hon. and gallant Me…
—although I hear calls from senior Members behind me to do so. Nevertheless, I can perhaps provide at least some additional context to this debate. Let me set out what I mean by that. For many years, all western armies—be they American, Canadian, Australian, German or otherwise—have struggled to rec…
Commons
Proceedings
24 March 2026
4 contributions
Defence
When I spoke from this Dispatch Box barely a month ago, I had literally just returned, hot foot, from Ukraine. Those who were here that evening might recall that I conveyed to the House a personal warning from the Speaker of the Rada, the Ukrainian Parliament:
“No one knows the Russians better than…
If I may, I will make just one more point and then give way. Moreover, Labour claims repeatedly that it is introducing the largest increase in defence spending since the cold war, but that is simply not true. In the current financial year, it has actually done precisely the opposite. It has introduc…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Committee Stage
24 March 2026
3 contributions
Armed Forces Bill (Second sitting)
I am loath to interrupt the hon. Gentleman, because he is making an extremely powerful speech. I pay tribute to his service. When I was the Veterans Minister a decade ago, I looked at the issue. One thing that we looked at closely was the point that the hon. Gentleman is making, which is that some v…
To reinforce what the Minister is saying, Lieutenant General Sir Andrew Gregory, who for many years was the controller of SSAFA, always used to make the point that while clearly some people suffer as a result of their military career, as the Minister admits, the vast bulk emerge in good shape, remai…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Committee Stage
24 March 2026
19 contributions
Armed Forces Bill (First sitting)
By way of some brief introductory remarks, Mr Offord—
I am sorry, Mr Efford. I was thinking of a previous Member.
+17 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Defence
16 March 2026
2 contributions
Topical Questions
There are growing rumours that the Government plan to bring back their ill-fated Northern Ireland Troubles Bill to the Commons next week. If that is true, it will give us the perfect opportunity to debate the Prime Minister’s links with Phil Shiner, the disgraced lawyer who was convicted of fraud an…
I was asking about the current Prime Minister, not the next one. After previously denying that the Prime Minister was instructed to act in a case against veterans by Phil Shiner, on 24 February the Veterans Minister had to come to the House and correct the record because the Prime Minister did, in f…
Commons
Debate
5 March 2026
3 contributions
Commonwealth Troops: First World War
As the son of a man who fought in the second world war, I am privileged to be able to sum up on behalf of His Majesty’s loyal Opposition in this debate about those who fell in the first world war and the vital contribution made by Commonwealth troops during that epic conflict.
The first world war t…
I see that the Minister is nodding in assent.
The Australians also made a major contribution to the first world war. Over 400,000 served in what was known as the Australian Imperial Force. Over half of them became casualties, either killed or wounded.
Perhaps the most famous Australian contributio…
+1 more contribution in this session