Speeches by Jenkin.

“I share the respect of my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) for the Minister and his experience, but the two statements from the Leader of the Opposition that he read out are not incompatible. The fact is that we would not have joined in the military action that the A…”

“I draw my hon. Friend’s attention and the attention of the House to the other fundamental structural flaw in the method the Government have adopted for planning defence: the aspiration after 2029 is only an aspiration. The Treasury has agreed to no spending line in its own forecasts and figures beyond 2029, and yet the…”

“Will my hon. Friend give way?”

“I was in Ukraine very recently, and the Ukrainian armed forces are mystified and want to offer help—as they are offering help to the Gulf states, to NATO frontline states and to the NATO JEF—about how to prepare for drone warfare. This is being held up by the lack of the defence industrial plan.”

“How many defence reviews do you think took place during the second world war?”

“The answer is none. When you are at war, you get on with it; you don’t wait around for a plan.”

“Why do the Government not do what Professor Sir Dieter Helm recommends, which is to issue North sea licences for gas production on a conditional basis, on the basis that the gas is brought ashore, maybe against a contract for difference, but at a different price than we would buy it on the world stage? That is perfectl…”

“Well then why not get on with it?”

“But this is an emergency now.”

“The whole concept of warfighting has changed in the last 12 months.”

“On SAFE, why is the Polish President, Karol Nawrocki, submitting a Bill to his Parliament to get out of having to take a loan from SAFE on the basis that he has worked out it would cost twice as much to pay back as if they just borrowed that money themselves and spent it on their own defence?”

“Pass a new law.”

“We need an industrial policy.”

“Could I suggest you look into that? Because I think gift horses and mouths might be—”

“It sounds as though you are at peace while we are actually at war.”

“But we want to avoid spending money in Europe, and we need to spend it on our own defence—”

“Good afternoon, Prime Minister. On the defence investment plan, with the greatest respect, the idea that the lack of the plan is not holding anything up is utterly ludicrous. Industry is crying out for the certainty it will bring, and the longer it is delayed, the longer the uncertainty exists. How can you create a 10-…”

“You clearly have not communicated the necessary urgency to the Treasury, who need to come up with the money. At Cobra this afternoon, you might just ask the question: why does the Treasury not seem to realise we are already at war and we need to be in a warfighting mentality to deal with the emergencies we are facing?”

“Which is why we stayed out in the first place.”

“I dare say Winston Churchill had a bit of mess to clear up from the previous Government; Margaret Thatcher had a bit of a mess to clear up from the previous Government. We are now facing an emergency, so why were we so unready to defend Cyprus?”