Speeches by Norman.

“It is some weeks away yet, but this is the last moment I will have to wish you, Mr Speaker, and all Members of this House and staff a very happy Easter; I hope I may do so. Easter is a joyous occasion, full of families and possibly inappropriate amounts of chocolate. I will be making the shadow Leader of the House’s le…”

“My right hon. Friend is giving an important and telling speech on a very important topic. As he rightly says, these soldiers were subject to well-defined rules of engagement. He has described the IRA as a terrorist organisation, but what he has not said is that at the time, it was the most sophisticated terrorist organ…”

“Could the Secretary of State not simply say now to the House that he has a deep understanding and awareness of the trauma that has been caused, and that he takes the side—not judicially, but politically, in his own mind as a matter of human sympathy—with the poor people affected by these decisions and how they are play…”

“What three things would suggest to you that it was actually serious?”

“The European response is in the early stages of becoming a lot more serious.”

“Professor Freedman, the statements coming out of the White House have been profoundly disturbing in relation to the nuclear deterrent, Five Eyes and other capabilities. It is evident that they are also highly disturbing to American security agencies and departments. Could you give us your read on what that domestic imp…”

“That is helpful. Thank you very much.”

“Could I put the question to Dr de Hoop Scheffer? Again, are there two or three things that you would consider signs of real seriousness? Those might be financial commitments, commitments of strategic posture, public debates being initiated and had, or commitments being made domestically and internationally. What does s…”

“Can I just push back on that? It looks as though Germany is preparing to consider, once again, Nord Stream 2. As a strategic move, that is extraordinarily damaging to central Europe and Ukraine in particular. How can that possibly be on the agenda of the Chancellor if he is taking the serious-minded approach to Russia …”

“May I start by thanking the whole House for their wonderful messages of condolence during last week’s business questions? I could not be more grateful. I single out, in particular, the Leader of the House for her very gracious remarks. I turn from fathers to mothers, as this Sunday, of course, is Mother’s Day. The infa…”

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

“We do not know what the status of that is, or you are not prepared to say what the status of that is. We do not know that the final one has been delivered.”

“What you are saying is that that is the point of it, in part. Given all of the concerns that we have heard expressed about the need for a whole-of-Government review, and all of the different issues about attacks on critical national infrastructure, which could be extended to lawfare, weaponising migrant flows and all t…”

“That is the point that I am making to you, rather than the point that you are making to me. They do run more widely. We recently heard that the final draft of the SDR has now been given to Government. Is that right?”

“So what it does mean within the context of this inquiry is that a more tightly focused SDR is going to be less engaged with and competent to consider the defence aspects of hybrid warfare, because those aspects affect much wider bodies of interest and potential security threats across the whole of Government and societ…”

“Mr Wyatt, this is the strategic defence review that we have under way at the moment and has just been filed. In the recent past, we have had strategic defence and security reviews. You are the director of security. Is there any difference between an SDSR and an SDR, or is it just that someone forgot the other words?”

“That is very helpful. So we, as parliamentarians, should expect an SDR that is much more tightly focused on force structure, deployment and the kinds of deep issues that you have described, however much of that is put into the public domain or kept privately within Government.”

“My constituents in Herefordshire are not particularly confused about the importance of national security and defence, but that is not true about the whole country. You have rightly been saying that, as it were, the awareness and the clarity of communication needs to be increased. Given the complexities of non-attribute…”

“Except that the thing was going for eight or nine months before the events that upended it. How long is it going to be further prolonged for before we get the re-posturing that would inevitably be required by the changes that we have seen to US co-operation, potentially, in a whole range of areas that I do not need to …”

“How much of an embarrassment or difficulty is created by the fact that all of the underpinning assumptions of European defence and security policy have been upended by recent events?”