Speeches by Norman.

“Mark Rutte, the Secretary-General of NATO, said on Monday that, if we did not spend 5%, we had better learn to speak Russian. Is that a view you agree with?”

“The so-called demand signal is coming now, therefore, and will not wait for the defence industrial review.”

“Sir Tony, you have been admirably clear in your remarks today, whether it is on the importance of better reporting on readiness, the struggle to deal with process and hierarchy in the MOD, the difficulty of making any progress with change programmes, the need for less back office or the 11 people checking a contract fo…”

“Today has a great double significance. As the House may know, it is World Environment Day, when we celebrate the natural world and recommit ourselves as a Parliament to seek to protect it; and it is also the putative date of birth of Adam Smith, one of my great heroes, who did as much as anyone has ever done to explain…”

“Will the Leader of the House give us the business for next week?”

“rose—”

“On a point of order, Mr Speaker. This House and, indeed, the viewing public have just been treated to the very unfortunate spectacle of a Prime Minister who was completely unwilling to answer questions from the Leader of the Opposition—so much so that he entirely changed the subject. Instead of referring to the two-chi…”

“That is very interesting. We are focusing on the wider factors before we get back to the UK and the more specific issues for us. On China, Dr Rogers, can you talk about China’s ambitions in the High North and how you see that as presenting a security concern to the UK and to NATO?”

“Dr Rogers, do you want to come in on how the US must feel constrained, from a military perspective, by its lack of ability to police those routes?”

“You mentioned the USA. Obviously, three minutes looking at the globe reminds one that the USA has no access to the High North apart from in Alaska, and it has managed to foster a dysfunctional relationship with Canada over the last few months in a way that might hinder its long-term ambitions in that area. What are the…”

“Brigadier, can I come on to you for a further comment and to specifically explore that military co-operation? It is not just military, but commercial and trading co-operation. We know that China and Russia have signed a 50-year oil and gas agreement, and we know that China has its proxies in Ukraine, so there are all k…”

“Before we get to that, may I ask a question of Professor Kennedy-Pipe? You mentioned Russia and the Baltic. Can you comment briefly on the balance of forces and the changing dimensions of Russian emphasis of military strength between the Baltic, the Arctic and the High North? I think that is quite significant.”

“So it is actually imposing a strain on Russia, which is trying to reinforce on the peninsula and further round, but is actually having forces drawn south.”

“Is that really the best that the Leader of the House can do—an “I speak your weight” autocue recitation of points that she has made in her three previous attempts to deal with occasions when the House has been embarrassed and disregarded over the last three weeks alone? It was a hopeless miscue of a response that borde…”

“(Urgent question): To ask the Leader of the House if she will make a statement on Government announcements outside the House of Commons.”

“I thank the Leader of the House for her remarks. As you will know, Madam Deputy Speaker, this week saw the tragic and untimely death of Sir Roy Stone. We had a brief moment of recognition of him earlier in the week, but I am keenly aware that many Labour colleagues were not in the House at the time of his flourishing. …”

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

“I am very grateful to the hon. Member for Aberdeen North (Kirsty Blackman) for raising this urgent question. As she has highlighted, there is a consistent pattern of failure to report first to this House, as is required by the ministerial code. She has rightly drawn attention to the farcical scenes that we had with the…”

“Dr Johnson, what you have said is very interesting. Can I just test it quickly in relation to one thing? You have talked about SMEs. Of course, the problem with a lot of what we are seeing in procurement is that it seems to be impossible, in terms of not just the big procurements but rapid iteration. In areas such as d…”

“Does that not require just one very strong-minded human being with enough energy and authority to make the thing happen? I say this as the husband of the person who ran the vaccine taskforce.”