Speeches by Norman.

“When you think about accountability, how would that clarity of purpose relate to Ministers?”

“Obviously. No one is thinking that, but the civil service would not be the civil service if it were not a lot more subtle about such questions.”

“So every word of that report was written either by you or personally approved by you?”

“Well, there had been a fiasco at the Foreign Office, so you can see why they might have thought, “We have got to step forward and actually lead”.”

“Picking that up for a second, if I may, Mr Williams, have you been the subject of any criticism?”

“And to protect the discussions under the legal framework, which was the cause of the super-injunction, presumably.”

“Were there any areas that Ministers and officials paid particular attention to, more than others, in the report?”

“In relation to the Triples, for example?”

“There was a party political aspect to this, wasn’t there? It was not inconvenient to the new Government to try to show that the previous Government had acted precipitately or heavy-handedly.”

“You briefed Ministers and you did a cross-Whitehall meeting.”

“Were there any other updates to Ministers, such as written communications or verbal briefings, in the course of your work before—”

“Well, a lot of money was at stake, apart from anything else—so the Treasury and every affected Department.”

“No, I mean official criticism, within Government or by Ministers.”

“But you have said that officials and Ministers did get a chance to review your emerging findings, because they pressed you on how good the evidence was and how strong the view was. Is that right?”

“You and your team have certain professional institutional affiliations. What steps did you take to satisfy yourself that those were supporting the aims of the inquiry and not necessarily narrowing the range of evidence that you looked at?”

“I thank the Leader of the House for his remarks, and fully echo both their detail and their sentiment. As he says, accessibility should never be an afterthought. In the case of the House of Commons, there is not just the common decency that goes with trying to support anyone with a disability or another need. A vital a…”

“Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am afraid you may have been slightly misled by your officials. The report mentions restoration and renewal, and specifically refers to it as something that the Committee was invited to look forward to. Therefore, it is not inappropriate to mention it. The specific point that I am maki…”

“And he is from Northern Ireland to boot. He is an honest man facing his demons and triumphing. What a contrast with the Prime Minister’s failure to answer, or even to engage with, the question at Prime Minister’s questions. The last four Prime Minister’s questions have focused on the Iran war, fuel duty, North sea oil …”

“The Leader of the House may not have been in his place, but I suggested that it might be possible to have two debates—a digestive debate and then a debate with a decision. Even if one of those is a Backbench debate, would that be something that he would support?”

“Thank you very much indeed, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am grateful for the opportunity to say a couple of words about the excellent contributions to the debate. I will, if I may, pick up on a couple of points. I do not think that anything more needs to be added to what the hon. Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford (Daniel …”