Speeches by Jopp.

“Just on resilience, Admiral, the Health Secretary and the Education Secretary said the other day that they were putting more funds into schools so that children developed much-needed grit. That is key clearly to part of national resilience. What is your experience? We met the captain of HMS Duncan when we went down to …”

“When you say we are not in deficit, I get the impression you are talking about in strategic terms. If I were to ask you how many working tanks we have, you are not going to know that figure off the top of your head, but one of your brilliant team will pass you a note in a minute. I would be fascinated to hear the answe…”

“Just for the record, you are not ancient at all, CDS, because I was on ACSC 4.”

“On the model that you now have, the CDS is actually legally in command of the other three. Running alongside the three service pillars, you have the joint staff. I remember that 20 years ago there was a big push to make the younger generation more joint in order better to support the integrated force. Is that still the…”

“Just on the military strategic headquarters, Admiral, is it going to still be in the MOD?”

“If I may, Chair, when we had Lord Robertson and General Barrons sitting there at the beginning of this process, they said two very important things. The first was that they had been told that they were not required to seek consensus in the building. Secondly, they had no obligation to fill in holes in legacy programmes…”

“Admiral, I used to work in the Ministry of Defence. When one of these was produced, my boss, General Simon Mayall, always used to ask, “Lincoln, where are the down arrows?” I have read this, and there are not any. There clearly will be down arrows for certain capabilities and structures, but it is very difficult to get…”

“My understanding of the Bill is that under those circumstances, they would lose their licence to operate.”

“Has the hon. Gentleman considered that, essentially, we are talking about the state seizing someone’s assets and giving them to someone else? If a club falls into administration, the administrator is governed by a very strict set of laws in terms of treating all creditors fairly. Is he not concerned that this power cou…”

“Does my hon. Friend agree that his amendment is very much in the spirit of football? We have seen many injury time winners, when all the odds are stacked against a club, but in the dying moments they manage to rescue an almost impossible situation. So it is not only in the spirit of fairness, but in the spirit of footb…”

“I am sure that the Minister realises that one of the variants in a club’s business plan is whether its matches are selected for being televised. It is an incredibly haphazard process and difficult to predict, because they are decided within season. What guidance will the Minister give, as the appointer of the regulator…”

“The Minister mentioned the two criteria of the business plan and the personnel statement. I thought from our discussions last week that giving the regulator any form of information that the regulator so requested was an additional condition.”

“Is the planning officer who is considering this case cleared to receive top-secret information?”

“I appreciate that the Minister did not get a chance to spend long on the Back Benches—such has been his accelerated rise up the ministerial pole—but would he like to spare a thought for his former Back-Bench colleagues and join me in thanking and congratulating the small band of Labour Back Benchers who went public, br…”

“Mr Turner, you will have seen the declaration of interests that I made on Tuesday. I seek the Committee’s indulgence; this is the only gratuitous intervention that I will make. Can the shadow Minister remind the Committee of the identity of the only team who have won every major European trophy, having recently won the…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Turner. The shadow Minister is making a pertinent and important point. If the independent football regulator were inadvertently to cross lines into the jurisdictions of UEFA or FIFA, it could be catastrophic for English football. Clearly, that is not the purpose of …”

“I suspect that Government Members will oppose the amendment. Given that, does my hon. Friend think that it would be reasonable of me to ask the Minister the extent to which UEFA has seen the Bill and signed it off as something that does not constitute political interference either way?”

“I ask the Minister to respond to this simple question: has the Bill as drafted been shared with UEFA? Is UEFA satisfied that it does not represent political control?”

“I rise as someone who currently has an invitation in my inbox to renew my season ticket for an eye-watering £950. I would love to know where all that money goes, as the shadow spokesman said, and why the price has gone in the direction it has. The amendment should not be seen as counter to the regulator. There was sign…”

“The Liberal Democrat spokesman talks about dodgy owners. My season ticket is for a Premier League club; a season ticket for, say, Ashford Town (Middlesex) FC for the forthcoming season is £130. I think part of the function of this amendment is to make the regulator aware of the costs that it puts on well-run but smalle…”