Speeches by Thornberry.

“Across the world, it is on the BBC World News channel four times a week and three times a day, where it gets a 70 million audience. On the English language World Service radio, it is on three times a day, three days a week, and gets 100 million people listening.”

“Although, of course, it goes out on the News channel at 12.30 in the morning and 4.30 in the morning, so there may not be a large number of people watching it at that stage in any event.”

“You have been misquoted by Broadcast magazine.”

“Mr Munro, you told Broadcast magazine that the reason that you were closing “HARDtalk” at the end of this financial year was because nobody listened to it. Where did you get that idea from?”

“I wonder if I could ask your boss this. Do you not think that it is a sad day for the BBC today for you to be losing perhaps the best news presenter and interviewer that the BBC has ever had, and that Mishal Husain is leaving the BBC in order to go to Bloomberg to do a regular programme, internationally, that will be d…”

“I understand what you are saying, but these are domestic-facing programmes that you are going to put out on the World Service. What I am asking—I will not ask it again, but I will ask it one more time—is whether there will be, in the future, a programme on the World Service that will be international, facing outwards a…”

“No, it is because you said that no one listened to it.”

“Holding world leaders to account is not going to be done as often by the BBC because of cuts.”

“You might replace “HARDtalk” with another programme that will come out regularly, as often as this, three times a week and three times a day. You will have a programme going out as regularly as that doing long-form interviews, following consultation with your staff.”

“There will not be a regular programme that will be doing it, will there?”

“How regularly are we going to hear long-form interviews being done on the World Service if you get rid of “HARDtalk” at the end of this financial year?”

“It is right, is it not, that the long-form interview that the BBC undertakes under “HARDtalk” means that people such as Sudanese warlords, Serbian Presidents or all kinds of people who would not normally be expected to be asked a lot of difficult questions over a long period get asked those questions by the BBC on a re…”

“They are big numbers.”

“Across the world, it is on the BBC World News channel four times a week and three times a day, where it gets a 70 million audience. On the English language World Service radio, it is on three times a day, three days a week, and gets 100 million people listening.”

“Although, of course, it goes out on the News channel at 12.30 in the morning and 4.30 in the morning, so there may not be a large number of people watching it at that stage in any event.”

“You have been misquoted by Broadcast magazine.”

“Mr Munro, you told Broadcast magazine that the reason that you were closing “HARDtalk” at the end of this financial year was because nobody listened to it. Where did you get that idea from?”

“I have a constituent who was not a member of the armed forces, but a member of the secret service. He lost his job in the 1980s because he was gay. There is no compensation for him at the moment. I suspect it may not be the responsibility of my right hon. Friend, but does he not agree that there should be parity of tre…”

“Across the House we all celebrate the end of this terrible regime, but the very last thing that the Syrian people want, as my right hon. Friend said, is for one tyrant to be replaced by another, but with an Islamic flag. There is another way, but it will not be easy. I am glad to hear that my right hon. Friend has begu…”

“Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that it does not matter whether someone is a dual national or not? If they are British, they are British and they are proud to be British. We should simply talk about them being British citizens, and not even bother talking about dual nationals.”