Speeches by Jopp.

“I think what the Health Secretary is actually doing at the moment is paying people to fudge the waiting lists. I want to be very clear, because there are slightly mixed messages from the Justice Secretary: are there any circumstances in which he would consider the reintroduction of jury trials for those cases that are …”

“13. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of his proposed changes to jury trials on the criminal justice system.”

“I thank the Foreign Secretary for her statement. I am slightly struggling to see what it adds to the answer to the urgent question we had yesterday, but it is always nice to see the Foreign Secretary. When she asks the US Government to de-escalate, what do they say in response?”

“I am reminded of that great fictional character Sir Humphrey Appleby, who once observed that a party with 300 members gets to form a Government, but 100 are too young and too callow, and 100 are too old and too silly, so the Government pretty much select themselves. I congratulate the Minister on making it into the mid…”

“A couple of weeks ago, I hosted a student roundtable, with two pupils from my eight secondary schools and two from my further education college. I agree with the Secretary of State in that I was left incredibly excited for them and by their hopes and aspirations for the future. However, we also had a discussion about h…”

“When it comes to defence procurement, are you expecting Rupert to do as you have done, which is take decisions within the broad operating model, or do you expect him to come back to you and say, “I have looked at this procurement set-up. It is not fit for purpose and I want to change it”?”

“I asked you whether you have changed anything. You said you have made some important decisions in implementation, but essentially, the blueprint that you inherited for Defence Reform has survived your review of it?”

“You said in your answer that you and the Secretary of State have made some important decisions in your time so far. Could you give us a sense of what the top three are?”

“Of course, oversight is one of those antonyms, isn’t it? It can be a positive or a negative, depending on the context. You described Defence Reform as the “how” the Department is going to operate. Coming back to the ECO4 issue, when you came in, did you receive a blueprint which you are operating to, have you had the o…”

“Unlike the MoD.”

“Permanent Secretary, in answer to the Chair’s question about why you think you can handle the defence brief you said that you had six years of experience as a permanent secretary. Can I take you back to your time at DESNZ and the ECO4 home insulation scheme, about which I think the Public Accounts Committee said it pro…”

“Ministers were all over the airwaves this weekend saying two things: first, that they would like to see a de-escalation of the conflict in the middle east; and, secondly, that they would like to see the strait of Hormuz secured for shipping. Why on earth does the Secretary of State think that those two aims are mutuall…”

“The Minister has come here to give us a pretty vague response of, “We’re in discussions with allies about making a plan,” and does not want to give us any more detail than that; I can potentially see why. When he has those discussions with allies, will he please remember that the British taxpayer kindly gifted two Sand…”

“Let me start by paying huge tribute to the hon. Member for Gorton and Denton (Hannah Spencer) for her maiden speech. She spoke with grace, poise and purpose, and her constituents are very lucky to have her representing them here, whether they voted for her or not. Members on the Conservative Benches will know that I am…”

“On Monday, my wife asked me what we were doing at work this week, and I said I was trying to support the British pub industry. She looked at me and said, “Trust me, you’re doing your bit already.” We probably will not agree on the reasons why the pub industry is suffering a bit, but does the Leader of the House agree t…”

“They’ve gone up in smoke! [Laughter.]”

“Could the Minister tell us when he last met a farmer?”

“May I begin by paying a huge tribute to the hon. Member for Warrington North (Charlotte Nichols) for her testimony to the House today? It was a privilege to be here to hear it, and it will last long in the memory. I do not have a huge amount of experience of jury trials; in fact, what I have experience of is the antith…”

“I thank the Secretary of State for his statement. At the same Dispatch Box about half an hour ago, the Chancellor of the Exchequer perhaps unwisely delved into the world of military strategy and said a couple of things that were slightly alarming. First, she upbraided the shadow Chancellor for not calling for the de-es…”

“What about China?”