Speeches by Whittingdale.

“5. When he plans to bring forward legislative proposals on AI.”

“Mr Lapid, thank you very much. We understand that Israel has agreed to a ceasefire with Iran. Can you say whether you think Israel has achieved its ambitions as a result of the conflict already, or is there still a risk to Israel as long as the Iranian regime remains in place?”

“There were reports prior to the American strike of nuclear material being moved out from those sites. Are you concerned that Iran may still have nuclear material and be in a position to continue its programme, despite the strikes that have taken place?”

“The US thinks this is a good deal, but that is perhaps not surprising, since they are not actually having to pay for it.”

“Do you ever think of asking the US to pay a bit more?”

“It is quite important.”

“The US pay operational costs?”

“You are not able to say how it is divided between the two Departments. Will the defence proportion be counted towards the 2.6% target for defence expenditure?”

“Leaving aside the 99-year period, the treaty describes that there will be £165 million for the first 3 years for the base, before we get on to the others. It also says that that will come from FCDO and MOD. Can you give more detail on who will meet the cost of this?”

“My final question relates to the Pelindaba treaty, which, as you know, Mauritius is a signatory of, although we are not. That treaty prohibits nuclear weapons being held on the territory of signatories. Given that we are ceding the islands to Mauritius, are you confident that the treaty will not be interpreted by Mauri…”

“My second question relates to annex 1, paragraph 2, requiring the UK to “expeditiously inform Mauritius of any armed attack on a third State directly emanating from the Base on Diego Garcia.” Some people would say that “expeditiously” might mean before such an attack happens. I think you are on record as saying that it…”

“I have three questions on the operation of the base. First, article 4 of the treaty states: “Each Party agrees to ensure that in the implementation and application of this Agreement, including activities in relation to the Base, there shall be compliance with international law.” The US did not utilise Diego Garcia at t…”

“Apologies.”

“Finally, will any of the Foreign Office contribution come out of the ODA budget?”

“Sir Mark, can I start with a more general question? When we met the Secretary-General, he gave the impression of being tired and fed up, perhaps because during his tenure as Secretary-General two major conflicts have happened and the UN has seemed powerless to do anything about either of them. Since we met him, the one…”

“Are you absolutely confident that the Mauritians interpret it the same way?”

“But you will be aware that there is some argument about whether or not the operation was.”

“When the Foreign Secretary came before us originally, he was very reluctant to give costings for the treaty and said that it was not normal to give detail of how much to pay for bases. That has obviously changed—we now know, according to the treaty, that we are at annual payments of £165 million for three years, then £…”

“On that point, one of the evidence submissions that we received suggested that if the UN became less able to address conflict situations for the reasons that you have given, the work of the UN in humanitarian areas would become more important. Yet, that is now an area where, certainly, the US looks to be massively cutt…”

“You referred to the mandatory donations to the UN budget; you included peacekeeping as one that member states are required to fund, but the US has refused now. I heard what you said about reaching a settlement in due course and finding a way, but it seems to be that the US is playing a much smaller role there, and, at …”