Speeches by Jopp.

“We had better not go into that.”

“It is always tricky, when looking at burden sharing, because it does rely on trust. As ever, as you said, it always ends up being a couple of nations, when it is hitting the fan, that say, “You and me, brother, we are going to go and do this together”. If there were a couple of areas where the UK could really offer to …”

“You both talked about capability gaps, in particular in answer to Ian’s question about the White Paper and not duplicating NATO’s work in terms of capability gaps. Ed, in terms of the specific, hard-end capabilities that had to be borrowed from the Americans, you alighted on some of them. When I ask the question, “Wher…”

“On the politics of Europe and European cohesion, by which I mean the EU, we have a problem at the moment in terms of France and Germany being in some sort of political stasis because of the electoral cycle. In the meantime—we left it—how is the rest of the EU getting on in terms of its own cohesion? Armida van Rij: The…”

“I am reminded that, at the end of the Cold War, when it really mattered, the only common kit and equipment across NATO was diesel and 105 mm ammunition. Even that did not galvanise us to get our act together and be particularly interoperable.”

“On Friday, I had the opportunity to visit Manor Mead special school, where 60 members of staff look after the 92 pupils, many of whom have the most severe learning disabilities and autism. I was absolutely blown away by the care of the staff, and I was particularly grateful to be shown around by the adorable Luchia, on…”

“I have a simple question: would it be compatible with the military covenant to make compensation payments to former members of the IRA?”

“They say that one ought to build one’s enemy a golden bridge. I think the compromise and pause proposed by the National Farmers Union is an elegant solution. That golden bridge is now being signposted by Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, the Co-op, and all the major retailers the Minister claims to be engaging with. Why does he not j…”

“My train got cancelled on my commute home last night from Waterloo to Sunbury, but that gave me the wonderful opportunity to catch up on one of my favourite radio programmes—that of Mr Matt Chorley on BBC Radio 5 Live. My joy was only increased when I had the opportunity to listen to a rare interview given by the Leade…”

“The permanent secretary at the Ministry of Defence said recently that he would reduce the number of permanent civil servants at the MOD by 10% by the end of this Parliament. Will the Cabinet Office be larger or smaller at the end of this Parliament?”

“I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Bromsgrove (Bradley Thomas) on securing this debate. I am time constrained, but I want to mention St Mary’s in Stanwell, a grade I listed 12th-century Norman church. An overseas visitor remarked to me recently how odd it was that the Normans chose to build such a beautiful c…”

“Having been to Wolves versus Chelsea last night, I completely agree.”

“I do not want to misquote you, but I just want make sure that I heard you correctly when you said that we had no hope of deterring a country such as Russia in cyber-space. Is that because of policy or capability?”

“To follow on, I guess the other side of Calvin’s coin is cost and cash. I do not want to probe around the operational out of bounds box, because this is pretty much an area of policy. We have taken the decision internationally to skim off the interest from the seized Russian assets. Does there come a time—have you done…”

“The hon. and gallant Member referred to the armed forces complaints ombudsman giving evidence to the Defence Committee last week. Her report from 2023 detailed that three complaints were made against the ombudsman organisation itself. Was he as dismayed as I was that she was not able to recall the details of the one co…”

“I rise to speak primarily in support of amendment 8, but I will also give some broader reflections on the Bill. We all need to be very clear that the welfare of service personnel is the responsibility of the military chain of command. No other supernumerary bureaucratic organisation can take that responsibility away fr…”

“It strikes me that we would all love the certainty of being in a condition of absolute peace or absolute war, because then things would be clear. The trouble is that we are not, at any one time, and that—to me—is the grey zone. At one end, that is actually just life; it is sub-state or inter-state competition, which so…”

“I do acknowledge that important difference. I think that amendment 8 seeks to enhance and strengthen the independence of the Armed Forces Commissioner from the chain of command, and I commend it to the hon. Gentleman. The German armed forces commissioner finds herself reporting and making recommendations on matters suc…”

“I think the hon. Member will recall from his time on the Bill Committee that the Front-Bench spokesman, my hon. Friend the Member for South Suffolk (James Cartlidge), referred to us as fulfilling the role of critical friend.”

“I offer these comments as a critical friend. I think it important for people listening to this debate and referring to our proceedings at a later time to realise that, utterly untrammelled, these measures will generate a bureaucracy all of their own. We do not wish this to be a good idea that we have in peacetime that …”