Speeches by Burghart.

“As a Member of Parliament and as a Member of the Front Bench, you obviously have people within the party who are sometimes not in Parliament who suggest parliamentary questions for you to ask, but any question I ask is my question. It will always go through the filter of what my team and I are doing. It would be quite …”

“Building on what Wendy just said, if we take a step back and look at how the House expects Ministers to behave, looking in “Erskine May”, the ministerial code and the Nolan principles, there is a very clear duty to be open and accountable. Indeed, it is explicit in the ministerial code, in “Erskine May” and from a 1997…”

“I agree with what Wendy said.”

“Thank you very much for the opportunity to give evidence to the Committee. I am grateful to you all for doing this inquiry, because, as I am sure we will uncover over this session, there are necessary improvements that can be made to the way things work. As we all know, written parliamentary questions are a fundamental…”

“I am Alex Burghart. I am the Conservative Member of Parliament for Brentwood and Ongar, and I am the shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.”

“I would not because, as I say, when the House is sitting you have an alternative, which is to come in in person and speak to the Table Office. You just do not have that if you represent a seat in Scotland or even further afield, so it makes sense that the calibration is slightly different during recess.”

“I haven’t considered this one deeply. One should look at the hours of the House. It is certainly conceivable that something might be said in Parliament that a Member then wants to dig into. On Mondays, we are here till 10 pm, on Tuesdays till 7 pm and so on. I would not want us to end up in the position where, as Wendy…”

“Just to probe that, why do you ask the question? What would be the driver for change?”

“The Secretary of State says that there is no such thing as vexatious prosecutions. I think that he would do well to remember the cases of Phil Shiner. In 1991, the SAS shot and killed three members of the IRA’s East Tyrone Brigade in Coagh. The coroner originally found that the soldier’s use of force was reasonable and…”

“Does not this case absolutely exemplify why the Government’s solution is entirely wrong? It reopens the door to vexatious litigation, which allows our veterans to be dragged through the courts, even when the courts themselves say that the case is ludicrous. It also exposes the absurdity of the fact that legal aid is pa…”

“I thank the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee for its work. The Committee is always incredibly thoughtful and diligent in the prosecution of its duties, and the report has been very interesting. I will try to resist the opportunity to re-litigate the whole troubles Bill and the argument around the legacy Act in the ne…”

“I just want to say that the hon. Gentleman is wrong.”

“It applied to only one side, and over time that one-sidedness became apparent to lots of people, including veterans. That is why it was important. In 2005, there was no democratic mandate for what the Labour Government tried to do to give immunity to terrorists. What we are trying to do, and what we tried to do in our …”

“Hon. Members will be delighted to hear that I will speak only briefly, because the Opposition do not intend to oppose the legislation. My contribution is already substantially longer than that made by my predecessor, Teddy Taylor, in 1975, when the legislation originally came to the House, who said only 14 words before…”

“I have just a few short remarks. First, it would be helpful if the Minister set out how the Government have come to the totals that they have come to: why one, four and nine in total? Why not fewer, and why not more? Secondly, I did not quite get the Dispatch Box commitment I was looking for that this would mark an end…”

“Since last Wednesday, it has become increasingly clear that either the Government did not follow due process in their appointment of Peter Mandelson or that they have not disclosed all the relevant documents. In different terms, either the Prime Minister’s assurances that full due process was followed were misleading, …”

“(Urgent Question): To ask the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the Government’s compliance with the Humble Address of 4 February 2026 relating to the appointment of Peter Mandelson as His Majesty’s ambassador to the United States of America.”

“I thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for your remarks at the outset of this statement. I also thank the Minister for advance sight of the statement, which I received at 1.30 pm. This whole business is really about transparency. The Government have had to be dragged to do this by Members on both sides of this House, so pr…”

“On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I am sorry to return to this subject. It is very clear that the Government do not wish to have an investigation into what happened at the meeting between Lord Mandelson, the Prime Minister and Palantir, and everything that occurred between that meeting and the direct award given to Pala…”

“On his visit to Washington in February last year, the Prime Minister and Peter Mandelson had an undisclosed meeting with US data company Palantir. Palantir at the time was a client of Global Counsel, the company in which Peter Mandelson retained a commanding share. Later that year, Palantir received a direct award for …”