Lords
Proceedings
10 September 2026
Defence Spending
My Lords, in July, ahead of visiting the Trident build at Barrow-in-Furness, the Prime Minister said:
“Keeping this country safe is the first responsibility of any government”.
Yesterday, at Prime Minister’s Questions, he said
“national security … cannot come at the expense of social security ”.—…
Lords
Proceedings
3 September 2026
Office for Students: Academic Misconduct Allegations
My Lords, the Minister—inadvertently, I am sure—creates an impression of if not complacency then certainly inertia. I emphasise that I am sure it is inadvertent. What many of us find surprising is the question of what would be necessary to allow the Office for Students to launch an investigation, ra…
Lords
Debate
2 September 2026
Armed Forces Bill
My Lords, as I set out at Second Reading, I am supportive of the Government expanding the scope of the Armed Forces covenant, building on the work the previous Government undertook in the Armed Forces Act 2021. I say to the Minister that although, as the Minister, I was somewhat diffident about this…
Lords
Debate
2 September 2026
8 contributions
Armed Forces Bill
My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, has offered us a very thoughtful exposition of why further action is required to strengthen the service justice system, and the noble Baroness, Lady Royall, made an important contribution in support of that. I wholeheartedly concur with the rationale behin…
My Lords, in a similar vein to the previous group, I think I am pretty well on a similar page to the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, particularly on Amendment 25, which seeks to ensure that the service victims’ code cannot be restricted to exclude victims of sexual offences or domestic abuse.
The ame…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
8 July 2026
Lord Advocate
My Lords, recent events engulfing the SNP with the Murrell conviction crystallise the conflict of interest. The Lord Advocate, Scotland’s independent chief prosecutor, felt able to share information only with her client, the Scottish Government. A chief prosecutor either shares information with ever…
Lords
Proceedings
7 July 2026
British Industry and Services: Public Procurement
My Lords, I think the noble Lord, Lord Spellar, speaks on behalf of the whole House. The plea he makes is really: can the Government lead by example? Can the Minister explain why the current Secretary of State for Defence recently decided to acquire the precision strike missile, which is an American…
Lords
Proceedings
2 July 2026
Employment Tribunals
My Lords, further to the question from the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, I wonder if there is any work afoot to try to triage cases, because it seems to me that, in some instances, what an employer needs is to have his or her head knocked against the wall, and the employee may deserve the same treatme…
Lords
Proceedings
1 July 2026
Defence Investment Plan
My Lords, I thank the Minister for both the briefing and prior sight of the defence investment plan, which he provided to me and my colleague, the noble Earl, Lord Minto, yesterday. I doubt any plan was so dogged by delay and preceded by such drama as this one, but that doleful prelude was eclipsed …
Lords
Proceedings
29 June 2026
Palantir: Public Service Contracts
My Lords, by common assent, Palantir’s technology has rapidly and dramatically improved the Ministry of Defence’s logistics and operational planning systems without either human rights or reputational risks. Given that the current challenge confronting the MoD is recognised in the SDR, which recomme…
Lords
Proceedings
16 June 2026
Russian Shadow Fleet
My Lords, I begin by expressing my huge admiration for all those personnel involved in the seizure of the “Smyrtos” at the weekend, from the Royal Marine commandos and officers of the National Crime Agency to the sailors of HMS “Sutherland” and HMS “Ledbury” and the airmen aboard the Poseidon P-8 an…
Lords
Proceedings
16 June 2026
Defence Investment Plan
My Lords, the Chief of the Defence Staff has today given the International Relations and Defence Committee of this House stark evidence of what funding is needed and why we need it to maintain our defence capability. Does the Minister agree that, whatever ends up being in the defence investment plan…
Lords
Proceedings
15 June 2026
Defence Investment Plan
My Lords, I am sure I speak for the majority of Members of this House when I say that at this time of turbulence, it is reassuring to see such a respected Minister as the noble Lord in his place.
Since the strategic defence review was published a full year ago, the funding of the plan has been dogg…
Lords
Proceedings
10 June 2026
Mindanao Earthquake
May I try and come to the aid of the Minister? When I was a Defence Minister and visited the Philippines, I was the first Defence Minister to go there for 40 years, and it was my pleasure to board HMS Tamar. Tamar and HMS Spey are two offshore protection vessels retained out in that region to provid…
Lords
Proceedings
8 June 2026
UK Defence Capability
My Lords, wounds imposed by one’s friends are always more painful to bear than those imposed by one’s adversaries, so I shall try not to compound the Minister’s agony. The Chief of the Defence Staff has laid bare profound concerns about our capability. The noble Lord, Lord West, has encapsulated the…
Lords
Oral Questions
20 April 2026
Civil Preparedness for War
My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lady Harris—it is very good to see her in person again—for bringing forward this really important debate.
On the point from the noble Lord, Lord Bruce, about whether we can have a longer debate on these matters—the noble Lord, Lord Harris, mentioned this to me befo…
Lords
Proceedings
16 April 2026
Strategic Defence Review: Funding
My Lords, the Government have been under sustained attack over many months for inadequacy of defence spend, opacity as to what they are going to do about it and lethargy engulfing their defence investment plan. When the most acerbic criticism comes from a political friend and the Government’s defenc…
Lords
Debate
14 April 2026
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, if anyone was left with any lingering doubt about the naivete of losing sovereignty over this base, recent events have emblazoned that folly for all to see. The noble Lord, Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, arguably one of the most respected defence experts in the world and defence adviser to …
Lords
Oral Questions
14 April 2026
Atlantic Undersea Cables: Russian Subsurface Operations
The noble Baroness asks a very reasonable question, but I cannot go into some of the operational details that she requires. Suffice to say, the important thing was that the Poseidon P-8s that she identified, flying from Lossiemouth, identified the threat. We also put a Type 23 frigate out there, HMS…
Lords
Oral Questions
13 April 2026
Strait of Hormuz: Mine Clearance
The noble Baroness will know my answer with respect to the defence investment plan. As I have said, it will be published in due course. HMS “Dragon” is available in the eastern Mediterranean and, as she says, is currently undergoing some limited work—but is still available with respect to its air de…
Lords
Oral Questions
23 March 2026
UK Homeland Defence
On the issue of the defence investment plan, I have nothing further to add to what has been said by the Defence Secretary and the Prime Minister. It will be published when it is ready to be published and we have completed work on it, which will be as soon as possible. Discussions continue on the app…
Lords
Oral Questions
18 March 2026
Strait of Hormuz
It was fantastic to see President Zelensky welcomed so warmly here in London in a cross-party way, and I pay tribute to the noble Baroness and her colleagues for their steadfast support for Ukraine, both in office and since. She is right to remind us of the tremendous innovation that has come about …
Lords
Oral Questions
16 March 2026
UK Public Servants: International Secondments
The noble Baroness has had significant experience of ministerial office. I have not, but among the civil servants who I have worked with, if there are those who may have made complaints, I am not aware that they have faced that experience, but if she has specifics she would like to raise with me in …
Lords
Proceedings
11 March 2026
Middle East: Defence
My Lords, I thank the Minister for the briefing on the current conflict that he made available to my noble friend Lord Minto. I also thank all our Armed Forces personnel who are currently deployed and protecting this country and all our interests in the region, whether British citizens, bases or mil…
Lords
Oral Questions
9 March 2026
Iran and the Middle East
I just do not accept that that is the case. We are just over a week into this conflict. Decisions were made rapidly at the outset. The initial request was declined—as is well recorded and well discussed—for reasons that have been explained, and I refer the noble Baroness to my answer to the previous…