Speeches by Thomas.

“Physically, where did the leak take place?”

“Thanks.”

“And wrote several books about it, I think. Can I ask you about accountability and responsibility? On the radio in July, you said that you take full responsibility for the error that happened—the breach—and the individual who did that. You mentioned earlier that you wish that parliamentary Committees like ours could hav…”

“That is what some of the BBC reporting is suggesting.”

“Do you think there have been any problems, aside from whether that was the intent, to do with relocating Triples even once that move in departmental policy happened? I will be careful in what I say because some of our evidence sessions were behind closed doors, but we have heard of problems with the process for approvi…”

“Sorry, I am asking you very specifically about the recent reporting in the last 12 months—not about the move in position. Maybe you have not seen it, but I am asking about the idea that some Triples have not been brought to the UK.”

“When you talk about the individual, you are talking about the main data breach.”

“I do not think anyone is underestimating, as you have explained articulately, the incredible challenge of doing that and matching up information. I was asking about the idea that has been reported that some decisions to turn down applications have actually not taken any time at all—they were extremely quick and done in…”

“We are aware of that.”

“Reform Members should note that the Iranian regime, which they have decided to be against, very much supports their Russian friends with the Shahed drone. I welcome the news that we are working with allies to discuss using Starlink to overcome some of the communication barriers. The British-Iranian community are trying…”

“You would be welcome to in the future.”

“Why is that? I personally transferred from the regular force to the reserves, as did other Members, and I have noticed that that does not seem to be the case. When you say that it is a fundamental part of the force, what do you mean by that? It does not appear to be.”

“You mentioned that you had a meeting with the Prime Minister before Christmas, and said that the figures in that meeting were classified.”

“I will just cut in, because as you say, the Committee has heard about segmentation from Mr Pearce, the new national armaments director, and the staff who were with him. I have a last question. It is interesting that you mentioned the previous panel that the Committee had with the new national armaments director. I aske…”

“I do not think I said that, to be fair.”

“Gagged—that is the word I was looking for. He said that he tried very hard to change culture in the MoD and the forces, but he could not—that it was really tough to change culture. Part of the defence reform vision that we have heard is around culture, which could be attitudes to women and minorities in the forces, or …”

“Thank you for your honesty. I will move on to a separate area now, away from reserves and on to defence reform. We had your predecessor in front of this Committee twice, I think, including once shortly before he was due to go. He finished, and he then made a speech in his first public appearance since leaving the role.…”

“Yes, it is not cheap. It is really good to hear acknowledgement that there is some work to do. I personally endorse the model of having them much more closely integrated with regular units, because otherwise you get that lack of a sense of purpose. We have been around NATO partners—we have travelled a bit as a Committe…”

“We are going there next week as a Committee.”

“You have just spoken about how integral a part of the overall force the reserves are. In the document you referenced by Lord Peach, which is the 2025 annual statutory report of the scrutiny team at the Council of Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Associations, the No. 1 top finding, based on the fact that every single one of…”