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Ministry of Defence

No, I am going to deal with this point first. I will come to what my hon. Friend said and perhaps he can intervene then. The Government have pledged a total of £544 million for reconstruction during 2003 to 2006. More than £460 million has been disbursed to date. That is a considerable effort. In a sense, I do not take the view of my hon. Friend the Member for Leyton and Wanstead (Harry Cohen) that a lot of that money may be misappropriated or deliberately taken away by those intent on malfeasance. There might be examples of that happening, but it is not a feature of our accounting practices and the way in which we try to deliver. When my hon. Friend raises a question about such activity, he is casting an aspersion not on military people, but, in the main, on civilian people who face daily risks when trying to deliver the reconstruction effort in troubled parts of Iraq. Putting all that in context is worth while. The hon. Member for Colchester (Bob Russell) asked my hon. Friend whether he ever made favourable comments about our armed forces. I heard my hon. Friend’s response, but hope that he also realises that many brave civilians are making an amazing effort to deliver such reconstruction.