Speeches by Gale.

“Order. I am conscious that some Members arrived after the start of the debate. Ordinarily, that would preclude them from speaking, but I understand that the Prime Minister’s statement has slightly thrown our timings. My intention is therefore to accommodate all those in the Chamber who wish to speak, but inevitably tho…”

“Briefly, Mr Shannon.”

“I call Ruth Cadbury to wind up.”

“I call the Minister.”

“I call the Liberal Democrat spokesman.”

“I call the Chairman of the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy.”

“Order. I call Liz Jarvis.”

“Order. It will not have escaped Members’ notice that we are playing “beat the clock” this afternoon. There is another debate to follow, with a very large number of speakers, and we are going to have to try and split the time between two debates. That means two things. First, after the next speaker I will impose a limit…”

“The debate will be opened by a member of the Health and Social Care Committee, Paulette Hamilton.”

“Order.”

“Order. I am sorry to have had to be a little brutal, but we managed to get everybody in. We are, however, 10 minutes over time, so if Front Benchers exercised a little discretion, that would be helpful. I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.”

“Order.”

“I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.”

“Order. I think the Minister has been here long enough to understand that, actually, matters have to be directed through the Chair; he is entirely correct.”

“I thank the Secretary of State for his point of order and for placing that on the record.”

“I am sure that the whole House, on both sides, will concur with the Minister’s final remarks. I thank him and the Opposition Front Benchers for their attendance.”

“Last but by no means least, I call the ever-patient Jim Shannon.”

“Order. As it is Armed Forces Week, it is entirely appropriate for the Chair to have allowed the Minister to respond to that question, even though it was not strictly in line with the statement. But from now on, given the time that we have available, we have to come back to the statement itself.”

“I call the Liberal Democrat spokesman.”

“Order. As is the custom, the Minister’s statement will be circulated to both sides of the House, but before we proceed, Members will notice that it will not be complete, in the sense that the Minister delivered a preamble prior to going into what will be circulated. That was to try to reflect the fast-moving nature of …”