Speeches by Bryant.

“Because we have determined that there is a whole series of things that we do want to sanction, and we want to make sure that they do not get through into the Russian economy. We have done that on a joint basis and I think that is important to do wherever we possibly can. All these countries have wanted to debilitate th…”

“That would not necessarily deal with the problem that some newspaper stories have come up with, because some of those are items that would not be on either list because they are so generic. Some of the things that have been found to be in Geran-2 drones, for instance, are things that you would find in children’s toys. …”

“I do not know the answer to that question. Does anybody?”

“In terms of a percentage?”

“Yes, they are two different things.”

“First of all, let’s acknowledge that it was the fourth anniversary yesterday, and we introduced a new set of sanctions yesterday, which we will perhaps come on to. It is true that the Russian bear is a wily fox—to mix my metaphors—in the sense that the Russians have sought to avoid and evade all our sanctions every ste…”

“Let me be clear from the outset: we support this motion. Frankly, it is the least we owe the victims of the horrific abuse that was perpetrated by Jeffrey Epstein and others—abuse that was enabled, aided and abetted by a very extensive group of arrogant, entitled and often very wealthy individuals in this country and e…”

“I heard that.”

“I agree 100%. I think we should also be referring to statutory rape, because that is what it is. Statutory rape is no better than any other kind of rape. It is rape—end of story.”

“I am taking your advice, Mr Speaker: I am just ignoring that. Over the next few days back in 2011, I repeatedly called for Andrew to be sacked in the public domain—on television, on radio and in newspaper articles—citing his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the mysteriously excessive £15 million paid for his Sunningh…”

“We will do two things. First, we will seek to comply with the Humble Address as soon as we possibly can, given the caveat that I have already issued about the police investigation. Secondly, we will ensure that every single part of Government co-operates entirely with Thames Valley police and with any other police forc…”

“I could not agree more. I want to ensure that we move as fast as we possibly can, but I also want to ensure that justice happens, and I do not want to do anything that would undermine the police investigations. I hope that the police will be able to move as swiftly as possible, and we will certainly co-operate with the…”

“I do not want to give way to every single Liberal Democrat Member, but I will, of course, give way to the hon. Lady.”

“Yes, he left his post in, I believe, July 2011. It could not have come soon enough for many of us, and it is a regret to many that the Government were not able to listen faster and act faster at that time. What this whole sorry saga shows is that deference can be a toxic presence in the body politic. Of course we alway…”

“I completely respect my hon. Friend. He has made that point several times, not only in the Chamber but also to me privately, and I agree with him: that is the direction of travel we are going in, which is why we agree with the Humble Address presented today. We are not standing in the way, and we will do everything we …”

“The hon. Lady might have to repeat what she thinks the answer that thus far evades me might be.”

“I will in a moment. If there are things that are embarrassing to the Government, who cares? I want to make sure that we end up getting the proper justice that is necessary for the victims, and that means that we have to have a proper police procedure. If there are charges brought, that has to go through a judicial proc…”

“I am happy to commit to updating the House as often as I possibly can in a way that is informative to the House. The hon. Lady is quite right, however, that I am slightly trying to manage people’s expectations about timeliness, partly because of the quantity of material and partly because there is a live police investi…”

“If the hon. and learned Gentleman does not mind, I will quite happily explain to him outside the Chamber precisely why I disagree with him. Again, if I were to explain more fully in the Chamber, that might not be very helpful to either the police or the criminal process. I am happy to explain to him outside the Chamber…”

“Oh, all right.”