Speeches by Norman.

“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?”

“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…”

“rose—”

“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.”

“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?”

“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…”

“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…”

“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?”

“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.”

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

“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. …”

“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…”

“It could be as simple as that.”

“Focusing on the point you just made, can you give me an example, among the slew of recent MoD announcements that might be affecting the SME sector, of one that filled you with joy because it gave you a sense that it was heading in the right direction, and one that filled you with dread because it reinforced all the wor…”

“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.”

“Just as a general characterisation, when we are in peacetime, procedures are slow, impersonal and highly rule-based. When the guano hits the fan, and you have to make decisions and get on with it, stuff very quickly becomes quick, personal and discretionary. Before I turn to the issue of SMEs, what lessons can we learn…”

“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…”