Speeches by Martin.

“I am just trying to get to the bottom of this. You asked for an ordinary injunction, where the contents of what the notice covers is to be kept secret, but the existence of the injunction itself is not. That is what you asked for, but is it fair to say that the judge looked at the reasoning in your submission—”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Allin-Khan. I would like to start by thanking the Minister for all her support. I do not think we realised that we would spend so much time on the same Zoom calls with a vast collection of characters from across Kent and the water sector. I also thank the Secretary of …”

“A former Deputy Prime Minister of the UK described to me the MoD’s approach to information security as “Stalinist”. Do you agree with that characterisation—as we have been discussing—and why do you think that is?”

“Absolutely retentive and close hold, and nothing shared whatsoever. You have just been describing it.”

“Mr Heappey is laughing now, for the benefit of Hansard.”

“Who set the objectives?”

“How do you crack that open?”

“T5. Reflecting on the balance of forces in Europe, both allied and Russian, will the Foreign Secretary articulate the risk that she thinks the UK is taking when it has such a small military and is committing several thousand troops, maybe tens of thousands, to Ukraine through the coalition of the willing?”

“I am well over my time, and I need to get to the point of my speech, but I get incredibly passionate when defending my constituents’ interests and their right to clean water. The White Paper is out today. My challenge to the Minister, whom I count as an ally in this fight, is this. What measures contained in the White …”

“My gangsters are worse than my hon. Friend’s. She makes a powerful point.”

“I offer two examples—surreal is the only word for them. I was standing at a water station in Tunbridge Wells, speaking to South East Water, and I was told, “The water station is open.” I looked around, and it definitely was not open. The problem is that South East Water has a contractor that sets up the water stations …”

“How can you be a Secretary of State if you are not a leader?”

“Which colleagues would you say sorry to?”

“That is fine until you have a security crisis and then your military is exposed. Mr Heappey is nodding, again—for the benefit of Hansard. You have a white tie there—”

“Very briefly, for the record, can you describe your role in directing the MoD’s response to the immediate data breach? You were on the gold command, right?”

“And you get shown up. Exactly.”

“If I get made the Chancellor, that is going to be a real turnaround for the Labour party—but I look forward to it.”

“That does sound—even though you formally requested a normal injunction—a bit like saying, “We need to keep this private until we’ve got to the bottom of the problem.” It actually sounds like you were asking officials for a super-injunction, no?”

“When you originally applied to the High Court, you asked for an ordinary injunction—that is, you were happy for the existence of the injunction to be made public. Did officials advise, or did you consider, a super-injunction, whereby the existence of the injunction itself was made secret? Did you consider that?”

“Everyone would accept that the nuclear deterrent needs to remain confidential, but as we have discussed, there is a huge amount of other stuff that does not even make it to this Committee or parliamentarians. I note for Hansard that Mr Heappey is nodding his head behind you. This is not about particular politicians or …”