Speeches by Jopp.

“I am intrigued by the ever-increasing demand signal being set by the judges. We have heard from others this morning that, politically, this is now starting to give you a problem because of the pressure and the juxtaposition with people who have come here illegally being in accommodation and the way that drives up rent …”

“You have characterised the judges’ decision making as increasingly activist. You have also said that they were also getting secret information from elsewhere.”

“They say, “It’s enormous and is going to cost billions of quid.” What was your reaction?”

“Did you say that the judge and your lead counsel came up with this plan themselves, not under your direction?”

“Can the Minister not hear herself, and not see how absurd it is for the Government to insist that they should treat the decision on the embassy as a quasi-judicial, independent planning question? It is not a planning question; it is a question of national security, and if the Prime Minister had any backbone, he would o…”

“I associate myself with the Prime Minister’s remarks, particularly about Iran. Visiting schools in my Spelthorne constituency is one of the great joys of this job, so I was, frankly, appalled to hear that the Labour Member of Parliament for Bristol North East (Damien Egan) was prevented from visiting a school in his co…”

“Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 14 January.”

“3. What recent progress his Department has made on delivering 1.5 million new homes by the end of this Parliament.”

“In my Spelthorne constituency, as a result of action taken by the independent, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green-led borough council, we have not had a local plan for a couple of years. It was finally submitted to the Planning Inspectorate on 25 November, but there has been a planning wild west in Spelthorne for the l…”

“In about June 1943, one of your predecessors, Field Marshal Alanbrooke, wrote in his diary that the thing that was really vexing him was how he could beat Germany in such a way that it could be regrown to act as a counterbalance to Russia in the post-war conflict—obviously, long before Normandy and all that happened. M…”

“In response to Alex’s question, you said that you think that, as a result of defence reform, the building is better at doing military strategy—”

“We probably had a pretty similar briefing when the Committee went to Ukraine. What was so telling was the way in which they had completely bypassed a load of stuff in order to get the responsiveness to the ever-evolving threat. We looked at what they had cut out. They had effectively cut out the whole of the military c…”

“Announced!”

“You’ve announced them.”

“May I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement this evening? I hope it is heard widely across the world, and I hope it is heard in Moscow and Washington. I hope it is heard particularly in Kyiv and across Ukraine, because I want the people of that country to understand that this House is totally united in support of …”

“As the shadow Defence Secretary was reading out the letter from the squadron leaders and warrant officers that was published over the Christmas break, I looked across the Chamber, and was very surprised to see the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and two Defence Ministers shaking their head. We have had feedback…”

“Will the Minister give way?”

“The Minister seems to have co-opted the amount of money spent on the Royal Air Force into his argument. Is he aware that absent the defence investment plan—it was promised in the autumn, and the House rises tomorrow—we have no idea about the size, shape and cost of the Royal Air Force, because the Government are late w…”

“rose—”

“Last night in the Strangers Bar, I bumped into a very influential Labour Back Bencher who told me with great authority that digital ID simply is not going to happen. That is good news, of course, because it is going to 1.8 billion quid we have not got, and it is deeply unpopular in the country. Why does the Secretary o…”