Speeches by Foord.

“Certainly, and perhaps the Committee will take evidence from them or others. The national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, when he was reflecting on this time last September, recalled that Sir Philip Barton also had reservations about the appointment of Lord Mandelson. What did you know about Sir Philip’s reservation…”

“In that time when you were the designate permanent under-secretary, what conversations did you have with advisers or officials that might have led you to believe that Lord Mandelson needed to take up this role regardless of the outcome of developed vetting?”

“I want to look at a couple of pieces of evidence, one of which was released in the tranche of documents—volume 1 of the return to the Humble Address. This is a December 2024 email from the No. 10 private secretary for foreign affairs, Ms Terry. She wrote on 20 December 2024 to Lord Mandelson: “I understand you haven’t …”

“Thank you very much, Sir Olly, for appearing before us. You have explained that a lot of these decisions were made before you were appointed as permanent under-secretary. I am curious to know: why did Sir Philip Barton’s tenure as permanent under-secretary conclude eight months before it otherwise would have?”

“Certainly, and perhaps the Committee will take evidence from them or others. The national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, when he was reflecting on this time last September, recalled that Sir Philip Barton also had reservations about the appointment of Lord Mandelson. What did you know about Sir Philip’s reservation…”

“Going back to the point when Sir Philip was still permanent under-secretary, it is reported by Sam Coates that Morgan McSweeney, the chief of staff, rang Sir Philip and said in terms stronger than those that I can use before the watershed—”

“Well, I will just say that it was, “Just approve it,” with a term stronger than that.”

“Does that accord with your impression when you took over from Sir Philip?”

“Going back to the point when Sir Philip was still permanent under-secretary, it is reported by, I think it’s Sam Coates, that Morgan McSweeney, the chief of staff, rang Sir Philip and said in terms stronger than those that I can use before the watershed—”

“In that time when you were the designate permanent under-secretary, what conversations did you have with advisers or officials that might have led you to believe that Lord Mandelson needed to take up this role regardless of the outcome of developed vetting?”

“I want to look at a couple of pieces of evidence, one of which was released in the tranche of documents—volume 1 of the return to the Humble Address. This is a December 2024 email from the No. 10 private secretary for foreign affairs, Ms Terry. She wrote on 20 December 2024 to Lord Mandelson: “I understand you haven’t …”

“Thank you very much, Sir Olly, for appearing before us. You have explained that a lot of these decisions were made before you were appointed as permanent under-secretary. I am curious to know: why did Sir Philip Barton’s tenure as permanent under-secretary conclude eight months before it otherwise would have?”

“Well, I will just say that it was, “Just approve it,” with a term stronger than that.”

“Does that accord with your impression when you took over from Sir Philip?”

“I entered this House months after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, and I was struck at the time that the debates on Ukraine were solemn, dutiful and not party political. The contrast with the debate over defence spending is stark. The Leader of the Opposition has decided to use it as a foil for her party, …”

“There was a discussion earlier about the register of non-consensual intimate images, which is set out in Lords amendment 259. I want to share with the House the experience of one of my constituents, who was subject to the creation of a non-consensual abuse image by her husband while unconscious, having been the victim …”

“How often does DSIT meet with major platforms such as X, YouTube, TikTok, and Meta in relation to foreign disinformation?”

“What about requiring platforms to produce annual reports on the detection of state actors being engaged in interference, say through amplification? Would you like to see the platforms producing annual reports on detection of state actors?”

“As a result, what changes have been made? What improvements have been made to protect against foreign interference?”

“The Foreign Affairs Committee published a report recently on disinformation, and in that report we called for the Government to require social media companies to make their algorithms transparent. What do you make of that?”