Speeches by Healey.

“With respect, those are quite narrow questions. You asked me for priorities. I am saying to you that those are set out quite clearly in the Strategic Defence Review, including in the 62 recommendations we have accepted. You asked me whether I can evidence any of the priorities; I can do that with the actions and decisi…”

“I will call out the Putin threats to us when I think those are needed. It is part of priming the national conversation that we have discussed before. It is part of treating the public properly, making sure that they are aware of some threats that we face. Should we do more in disclosing to Parliament and trying to ensu…”

“I am sorry, that is exactly what the Foreign Secretary did when we made the decision that next year we would switch 0.2% of GDP out of direct overseas aid into defence. That was a decision that the Government took: very clearly a down arrow in a different path. If you look at the decisions that the Chancellor made in h…”

“It is partly a recognition in the investor community—the banks—of the discussions we have just been having in the last half an hour; that actually there is a national and an allied challenge with defence and security that is not just a matter for the armed forces and defence. We are moving away from a period where inve…”

“First, you encouraged me to read their evidence. But part of my mission as Defence Secretary—before the election, at the election and since—has been to draw attention to the threats we face, to argue that this is a new era for defence and that steps need to be taken. The Government have demonstrated a seriousness for t…”

“I absolutely applaud the work that you personally are doing on this territory; the way that you are championing fresh ideas like the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank. One thing that I know you will have noted—Mr Chairman, you will see the results before too long—is we set up a defence finance investment group, som…”

“That is a good question. Rather like reform, I do not see there is a point of success or failure. I do not see a point of completion, particularly as we know that the threats and the challenges that we are facing are evolving the whole time. You are quite right to challenge me and the Government on this important area.…”

“No, no, the serious fundamental point here is that if a country is stepping up to the challenge that Mr Norman is quite rightly outlining here, that is a challenge that is defined by the threats we face and the security environment. That does not stop changing, evolving or reach a point where it is done, whether or not…”

“I did not, no.”

“There is an understanding and that understanding is growing. The recognition of its importance is underlined by this advisory group we set up and by the fact that the Chancellor and I are working very closely on this and have been over the last 18 months. We work with the CBI specialist group and a task force that repo…”

“The thinking of the SDR, that sort of concern, the Prime Minister’s absolutely accurate description about how defence is now central to the thinking and the duty of this Government in a way imbues almost everything I say everywhere I go on every occasion.”

“That is Government work in progress.”

“First I would always argue that I have total confidence that if we had to commit our troops to fight tonight, they would do so. The observations in the SDR, reinforced by a good report that Bernard Jenkin and Chris Donnelly have authored and published today, if I may say so, reinforces that recognition that in a period…”

“There have certainly been commitments that we have made in Defence that reflect exactly that.”

“In the last three months, we have confirmed a decade-long £9 billion injection and a new Defence Housing Strategy. We did the first stage of the legislation for a new housing service yesterday in the House. That was a major priority that goes beyond the capabilities that have always been looked at in the past. In my vi…”

“I can answer for the Defence Department as Defence Secretary. I can try to get you answers from other Departments. I am not here to and I cannot, I am afraid, answer for what other Government Departments have done.”

“That is a really big risk if we do not do our procurement better and in different ways and if we do not leverage the investments that I believe are potentially there, including foreign direct investment into the defence industry in this country, which hit record levels last year at £1.4 billion. These are all big oppor…”

“I take that point and I am glad you see it had that impact, Mr Roome. I thought it was an important signal to Putin as well as information that the public deserved. And the answer is yes, we should do that and I will do that when it is important to call it out. I will do that because I want the public to be as well-inf…”

“Yes, I am able to implement my priorities. I have a lot of confidence in the leadership we now have in place in defence. No, I am not being prevented from doing that and I am not sure that I recognise the description of some deeply resistant, hostile, deep state. That is working against the interests of democratically …”

“Our two nations have set out to lead the coalition of the willing. The commitments that other nations have made are commitments that they have made and collectively we are not publicising or releasing details because, quite honestly, that would only make Putin wiser.”