Speeches by Jopp.

“Similarly, when we were in Australia, someone floated the idea—no pun intended—that, when we have a fully Australian-crewed Virginia-class boat, a British boat and an American boat alongside one another, surfaced in the Indian ocean, that too would be another drumbeat in building that strategic narrative.”

“If there is not even a trialogue, it is hard to build a narrative. When I think of AUKUS, I am like one of Alex’s voters—I think of that picture in San Diego with Albanese, Sunak and Biden. In order to reinforce all the messages about AUKUS being epoch-changing, multi-generational and politics-proof, would it not be a …”

“The Defence Committee recently visited Canberra in Australia. For Members who do not know the geography of the place, the old Parliament building looks down a row of trees and across a lake to the national war memorial. When the new Parliament building was built in the 1980s, it was pushed back so that it had exactly t…”

“I understand that the permanent secretary at the Home Office recently appointed a single senior official to be responsible for asylum hotels. Will the Home Secretary please use her good offices to encourage that official to come to the Stanwell hotel in my Spelthorne constituency, so that they can see for themselves ho…”

“A constituent wrote to me asking whether I could get a wriggle on with his EU settlement scheme application. We checked with the Home Office and it turned out that he was subject to a live deportation order. It was issued in 2017, and we did deport him. Somehow he got back into the country and made his application. I s…”

“I thank the Minister for her statement, although it will have caused some consternation in my constituency. Spelthorne is in Surrey, which is being carved up into two unitary authorities, and recent so-called clarifications by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government have stated that there are no promi…”

“Thank you, that was really helpful just to baseline the rest of our discussion.”

“I think that funny sound I am hearing, on the back of that last statement, is General Mike Jackson spinning in his grave, but there we are. Mr Savill, I want to go back to something you said about the reform agenda laid out in a speech by John Healey when in opposition, and how it clashes with other reform. For those o…”

“Would my hon. Friend agree that the corollary of taxes is expenditure? We have tried to elicit some clarity from Government Members about whether they would like to raise the two-child benefit cap, which would cost £3.5 billion, or leave it where it is. Given the Chancellor’s kite-flying exercise in the media recently,…”

“I associate myself with the Prime Minister’s remarks about remembrance. I particularly remember being in west Africa in 1997, where I somehow managed to survive a bloody and violent attempted coup—if the Prime Minister wants any ideas on how to do that, he only has to ask. [Laughter.] Prime Minister’s questions last we…”

“Will my hon. and gallant Friend take an intervention from any Labour Member who is prepared to say that they have spoken to a business in their constituency that welcomes the NI tax increase?”

“The hon. Member is nickel-and-diming the debate. One big question faces the Chancellor: what to do about the two-child benefit cap, which costs £3.5 billion, so let us not worry about the odd £50,000 here or there. I would like to hear a clear statement from him: is he for lifting the two-child benefit cap, or for keep…”

“The hon. Member says that he does not really understand the contradictions. Would he like to state how much growth there has been in the UK economy since the last Budget?”

“Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 12 November.”

“Will the hon. Member give way?”

“It would make things so much simpler for the House if the hon. Gentleman would put a date on when those on the Government Benches will take responsibility for running the country. I do not mind if it is in six months’ time or a year’s time, but we can then all go home—I have lots of things to do in Spelthorne until the…”

“On the topic of tough decisions, I have a really simple question for the hon. Gentleman, which will probably do him some good in the coup that is currently going on. Is he for lifting the two-child benefit cap, or for keeping it in place?”

“If it is any consolation, when I worked in the Ministry of Defence, we had two teams working on a single version of the truth—try to work that one out. We have travelled extensively in this Parliament, to Estonia, Finland, America, Australia, Ukraine and France, so we have seen some international comparators and some p…”

“I want to explore the notion of codifying the relationships at the top of the shop in law—which I think was your preferred outcome. The former CDS said, “You can put the wiring diagram where you want; the art of it is how you manage the interfaces,” and that is what you are talking about. With the incoming National Arm…”

“This morning, eight four-star generals and an air chief marshal took the unprecedented step of writing to the newspapers. Their letter deserves to be heard in full and to be entered the public record. They write: “Having held the honour of leading the United Kingdom’s armed forces, we do not speak out lightly. Yet on A…”