Speeches by Thomas.

“What do you mean by “provide cover”?”

“It must have been hugely challenging. Holly, do you want to touch on that? Give us a sense of the professional and emotional strain that the super-injunction put on you guys as reporters.”

“So my question to you is this. Do you think he means he is astonished that you, the media, kept your trap shut—as you say, Sam—or do you think he is alluding to parliamentarians? We as MPs have parliamentary privilege. Under the Bill of Rights, you could not put an injunction on us—well, I wasn’t here at the time, but …”

“No, that’s clear and on the record.”

“Secrecy is quite a burden to have. You had that for a long period of time, which you are used to as journalists because you protect your sources. So you have some element of secrecy anyway. However, the judge in the judgment in July of this year said that it was a “remarkable” feature of this whole situation that there…”

“We have heard a lot of nonsense from the Conservatives; we have had a nursery rhyme and the claim from the hon. Member for South Northamptonshire (Sarah Bool) that the first instance of welfare in this country was the monasteries under Henry VIII. But to take that example, when Thomas Cromwell came in to advise King He…”

“I understand, so it is slightly less applicable to pillar 2.”

“It is great to hear from industry about some of the challenges and some of the solutions regarding the building of these submarines, but we are not building them for fun. We are building them because we have enemies and threats, and those enemies and threats are building submarines as well. Unfortunately, they are buil…”

“What do you mean by the ability to have more command and control in the Chinese autocracy?”

“The Government’s ability or the company’s ability?”

“We have had Team Barrow as a concept for a couple of years. We have now had Team Plymouth announced. It is fantastic news—around £4.4 billion going to Plymouth. However, we just heard the concerns of my colleague, Michelle Scrogham, about the effect that Team Barrow has, or has not, had on the local community. Harry, f…”

“I reiterate the Chair’s thanks to the three trade associations for all the support you provide to Committee members in our work. I have a question about skills, and I am going to ask for short answers from all three of you. Like everyone else, I am very concerned about our ability as a country to provide the skilled wo…”

“Matthew, from a techUK point of view, you mentioned that DSIT and the MoD could be working a lot more closely. Quickly, can you give us three things that they could be doing together that they are not currently?”

“Personally, I am very clear that China remains an active, persistent and everyday threat to our country and has done so for many years. In the light of this, what steps is the Minister taking on behalf of the Government to ensure that parliamentarians across this House are much better protected in the years to come fro…”

“I think other Members will come on to that shortly. Thank you very much.”

“Is your sense that it sits largely with the US, as the most powerful partner in this three-way partnership, to sort this out? When we talk to British officials, certainly in the MoD, people are very proud of the work they have done on ITAR reforms. They want to talk you through it, show you the list and say how good it…”

“Sophia, I want to hear your views on ITAR, but we were also discussing AUKUS visas and security clearances with Sir Stephen last week, and we reached widespread consensus that that is one of the major logistical barriers to the delivery of even pillar 1. Could you also touch on those items please?”

“Much has been made of the ability of treaties and organisations such as these to knock down export-import barriers and make doing business easier and more efficient. I want to ask about ITAR restrictions in particular, which is the dominant question in defence import-export. There have been efforts to make ITAR restric…”

“What do you think is going to come out of the review, if we had to push you to make a prediction?”

“Thank you for your answer. I have taken up a lot of time with my questions. Could you talk specifically about the domestic situation politically in America and the Colby review—your views on that, and your expectations?”