Speeches by Norman.

“Okay, great. I suspect that what the Committee will want to see is progress, trajectory and rationale.”

“You never know, based on this performance.”

“Hon. Members may wish, if they like, to consult works by the shadow Leader of the House on this topic. I doubt whether any other book or any single body of thought has had more effect in improving the lives and livelihoods of people across the world in the intervening 250 years. We celebrate the service of our armed fo…”

“Mr Speaker, let me start by associating myself with your remarks just now from the Chair. It is plain to all Members of the House that the Government Chief Whip and Deputy Chief Whip have badly mis-stepped. Indeed, there has been scant respect for the House more generally from the Government Whips Office. I cannot beli…”

“Will the Leader of the House give us the forthcoming business?”

“Will the Leader of the House give us the forthcoming business?”

“I will, if I may, start by adding my very warm thanks to, and recognition of, our magnificent Clerk, Tom Goldsmith. Mr Speaker has already been indelicate enough to mention Tom’s extraordinary skill at the jazz piano, but as someone who eats very much at the opposite end of the jazz food chain, may I just say that our …”

“That is very helpful and interesting. Caroline, did you want to come in?”

“Very interesting. That leads to this question: if we fail to respond to actual Russian and potential Chinese assertiveness in the High North, what will be the consequences of that and what are the long-term implications for us?”

“The three of you have given a very sobering assessment of the threat but also a very interesting review of the opportunity. Thank you.”

“They are keenly aware of the fragility?”

“And they have lost the Baltic.”

“That is very helpful. Ed?”

“To draw out some interesting points that you—all of you—made, the first is that the dual-use trope is likely to be one that we will continue to see for reasons of hybrid or grey zone-type warfare. The second is that the industrial and defence co-operation is likely much closer in China, given the structure of the econo…”

“It feels like we are not. It feels like we are getting quite a lot of challenge from Russia at the moment in different forms. We are talking about putting a carrier strike group out in the north, which is the first meaningful attempt at forward deterrence I have seen for a while. Is other stuff going on that the Commit…”

“I agree.”

“Marc, you talked about Russian capabilities and how they are developing. Can you or another member of the panel, give us a sense of the parallel position in relation to China? We see rapidly increasing industrialisation of defence capability in that country, and it would be interesting to know how that extends into nav…”

“On behalf of all Members, I thank the Leader of the House for giving us those recess dates, which will be widely welcomed. Today is the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, perhaps the greatest of all United States Presidents, so perhaps this is a fitting moment to talk a little bit about public service. I congratulate the Cha…”

“Will the Leader of the House give us the forthcoming business?”

“Brett, do you have anything more you want to add on that from a technology standpoint?”