Speeches by Thornberry.

“May I begin by paying tribute to the bravery of the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Layla Moran) in continuing to fight for the population in Gaza, even as her own family and friends are suffering? My Committee is currently undertaking an inquiry into the Israel-Palestine conflict, and we have heard again and…”

“And of women.”

“Which regional leaders?”

“Do you agree with President Trump that it is all about Turkey in Syria at the moment?”

“While all this is going on at home, there are a number of challenges internationally as well. Since being elected, you have had to spend a great deal of time on the international stage meeting many people. I must ask you about Syria and then perhaps about Israel and Gaza. I will begin with Syria. Who are the main inter…”

“Can I ask you about Israel and Gaza?”

“Obviously, the whole world hopes that we will get a ceasefire in Gaza by the end of the year. The question has to be: if that does happen, what role will the UK play in what comes next? How will we use our considerable influence in the region and our convening power to make sure that what comes out of the rubble is a P…”

“We have Turkish-backed forces fighting US-backed forces in northern Syria, and in southern Syria we have the Israelis taking chunks out of the south. How can the United Kingdom ensure that those who do have some power and influence in the region are actually using it to develop a Syrian Government who are properly incl…”

“Palestine will not just be built from the ashes of Gaza. It also needs to be the west bank as well. We know that we are dealing with a Government in Israel whose stated view, at least, is that they are not in favour of a two-state solution at the moment. Indeed, some of the wilder members of the Israeli Cabinet talk ab…”

“They were one-offs. They were not from a programme that will be going out regularly.”

“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…”

“They were one-offs. They were not from a programme that will be going out regularly.”

“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.”