Speeches by Lewell.

“I meant that there was anger about the pets getting out.”

“Just to revisit that, you say, “One more turn of the wheel,” and in answer to my earlier question you said that you thought it would happen around the autumn. Why, then, did you apply for an indefinite extension in May, instead of just a temporary extension?”

“But they could have been doing that, presumably, on the premise of what you have just said: the 50%.”

“Why?”

“Do you think the right people have been held accountable for the data breach and its consequences?”

“That is what I was driving at. Ministers will rightly apologise for things and be held to account, but who else was accountable for this? Have they been held to account for what happened here?”

“It is a bit like becoming an MP.”

“Sorry, but I am just trying to get my head around this. Obviously that was July, and you are saying that you think things would have changed by the autumn.”

“Going back to your exchange with my colleague Mike Martin, last week we were trying to get the CDS pinned down on articulating the threat so that the public are aware and you can make those arguments that you talked about. That seemed to be what you were trying to say: that stuff needs to be kept secret, but that we ne…”

“On what basis, though? What advice were you getting that, in that short space of time, the situation would have changed?”

“I think you get the point that I am making, though: you applied for an indefinite extension, even though you did not want an indefinite extension.”

“On the day before the general election, you decided to appeal the High Court’s decision to lift the injunction. Can you tell us why that was?”

“So that would be how you would reconcile—I know you told the “Today” programme in July this year that you do not think the injunction should have carried on as long as it did, but what you are saying is that you were making that judgment, which your successor did as well. I am just trying to pin you down on—”

“You can see how it is confusing to us, though. You are saying that you thought it should have probably been lifted in the autumn and you were constantly reviewing it, yet you applied for an indefinite extension.”

“Was it not an option to apply for just a temporary extension?”

“I thank my hon. Friend for her statement, and my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool West Derby (Ian Byrne) for the leadership that he has shown on this. It is right that we have a pause, but the Minister will know how distressing this is for the families, and about the emotional and physical toll that going back and …”

“I welcome the Prime Minister’s calm diplomacy this morning. It is right that only adversaries stand to gain from the fracturing of NATO. The Government do not believe that the US President is serious about using military force to seize Greenland, but even in just the past hour he has refused to rule that out. My right …”

“I thank my hon. Friend for his engagement so far on this issue. It will come as no surprise to him that we need a cut to VAT and the maximum 20p discount for business rates applied across hospitality, not just pubs, because nobody wants to drink in a pub surrounded by boarded-up cafés, restaurants and B&Bs. Can I u…”

“There will now be a five-minute limit on Back-Bench speeches.”

“10. What assessment the Church of England has made of the potential impact of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on end-of-life ministry.”