Speeches by Thomas.

“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…”

“We have found on our travels as a Committee that nearly all our counterparts—be it in America, France, Estonia, Finland or Australia—get routinely briefed at, at least, “secret”. Do you think that that should happen with the Defence Committee in the UK?”

“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.”

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

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

“We are aware of that.”

“You mentioned your frustration about the departmental line on the Triples changing frustratingly shortly after you left office. You will have picked up reporting over the past 12 months in the news media on the idea that some Triples have not been relocated to the UK, through some kind of process that has happened in v…”

“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…”

“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…”

“Physically, where did the leak take place?”

“Thanks.”

“By the way, Mike Martin also served in Afghanistan.”

“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…”

“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.…”

“You had a meeting with the Prime Minister before Christmas, the details of which are classified. You define one of your roles as advising Ministers, including the Prime Minister. Do you have the sense that current Government are going to fund defence fully enough for us to be ready for full-scale combat in the next few…”

“You would be welcome to in the future.”

“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 …”