Speeches by Twigg.

“Is Professor Malcolm Chalmers heavily involved in the SDR and the Defence Implementation Plan? He was obviously brought in as an exceptionally experienced and knowledgeable person; what has his involvement been?”

“What has he brought to the tail in terms of anything additional that the Department did not already have?”

“You used the word largely, which suggests that some have not, or some parts of it have not been completed, so could you enlighten us on that?”

“You could have said, “Yes, in full,” but you did not.”

“Going back to the SDR, why has the MOD not agreed with the Committee’s recommendation that we should produce a publicly available annual report on the progress of the SDR implementation?”

“It would be useful to know. I am not sure whether you are going to say, “Well, I cannot tell you what the problems are with training because it would give away some sort of secret.” But I just wonder what the specific obstacles are there to completion?”

“What has he actually added? What has changed as a result of his involvement? What is different and better?”

“Before I finish, you will notice that Civitas has today published an understanding of the UK’s transition to warfighting readiness, co-authored by Sir Bernard Jenkin and Chris Donnelly. There were a number of key issues, and one goes back to the CDS’s comments that we are basically not ready enough yet to deal with an …”

“Are you aware of any Afghans arriving in the UK under the secret Afghan resettlement route during your time as Secretary of State? If so, roughly how many? It is unclear whether any arrived before the election. The first invitations were issued in April 2024.”

“Are you aware of any Afghans arriving in the UK under the secret Afghan resettlement route during your time as Secretary of State?”

“You knew nothing before then?”

“How many?”

“Knowing what you know now, are you surprised that Parliament was not involved?”

“We were told that initially, “We were protecting lives, and that is why you were not told.” That was the original—”

“The first question is obvious: when and how did you hear about the breach?”

“What did you do with that?”

“Through the official channels?”

“You don’t know how many.”

“Did they arrive before you left office?”

“So it was your decision.”