Speeches by Jopp.

“Your remit is very broad—welfare, which can be interpreted in many ways. Rommel’s interpretation was that the best form of welfare is training, because more training means less widows—fewer widows; his German wasn’t very good. There will be a temptation for you to interpret it broadly or more narrowly, because troops’ …”

“I have one technical question. As of 1 April, are you going to be an employee of the Ministry of Defence, or are you being employed on a consultant’s contract for your interim period?”

“Thank you for your former service, and for your future service.”

“You will have to stop referring to them as “them”.”

“What is your experience of managing UK civil servants?”

“It would put them in a pretty invidious situation.”

“To go back to professional competence and independence, would you have any serving members of the armed forces in your office?”

“Enhancing our ability to fight and win—is that an implied task?”

“I associate myself with your comments, Mr Speaker, about the Table Clerk and I wish him happiness in his next steps. I also wish the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) many happy returns. Second Reading of the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill took place on 18 November, and the remedial order, which removed the prot…”

“1. What steps he is taking to replace the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023.”

“If you are confirmed, on 1 April you will become the commissioner.”

“If this is going to succeed, one of the outcomes would be the chain of command being better at the end of it, I would assume. We are not doing this for fun.”

“Let’s turn it the other way around. In the first Gulf war, my then girlfriend was dispatched to Silvermans in the east end to buy most of 7 platoon’s desert boots, which she then sent over. We are celebrating our 32nd wedding anniversary on 7 May, so the story has a happy ending—the boots clearly fit. I personally woul…”

“With all the legal responsibilities that that entails.”

“I am afraid that this will test your statement that the fact you are interim makes no difference. The Secretary of State stood at the Dispatch Box the other day and said that he had spoken to the commander of the British forces in Cyprus, and he quoted him directly as saying, “I have been given everything I have asked …”

“Three weeks, flash to bang. Mr Bailey moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform. Given that it has been so quick, how much research and preparation have you done? Have you, for example, had a chance to read the Act under which you will operate?”

“At the risk of loading the dice too much—do you feel empowered to “rock the boat” fairly early on, if you see things that you think need changing?”

“It is good to know that the Secretary of State is sticking by his own 10/30 rule—in fact, broke it very impressively. Can we look at the fact that it is an interim appointment? That could set up a dynamic all its own. Clearly you have to set it up and, one would hope, set it up in a way that, whoever inherits it, or if…”

“That is pretty breakneck speed for the British civil service, isn’t it?”

“Obviously, we had a Bill Committee to create the Act that you will be operating under. This is a phrase that I never thought I would say out loud, but I recommend that you listen to the proceedings of the Bill Committee, just so that you understand the things that we debated. One of the things that we did not grapple w…”