---

Defence Procurement

We have just been given a perfect example of the ingenuity and skill of the hon. Member for Vale of Glamorgan (John Smith). He managed to present a training programme as procurement, and I did not see you twitch for a moment, Mr. Deputy Speaker. He brings the same ingenuity and skill to all that he does in the Defence Committee, and we are grateful to him for his work. Let me echo in particular what the hon. Gentleman said about the servicemen and women who have died in theatres of war. How lucky we are that they go out there, prepared to sacrifice everything in defence of the values of this country. They are the best of this country, and we are very lucky indeed as a result of what they give to us and what they give up. This is the first defence procurement debate that we have had since the man who was probably our last ever Minister for Defence Procurement resigned in order to take up other challenges. We do hope that he wins the race. [Interruption.] We are talking about Le Mans in this instance. I think it right to pay tribute to the work of Lord Drayson. He brought great industrial knowledge and skill to his job, and I believe that industry recognised that he proved to be of great benefit to defence in general and to the country. His replacement, Lady Taylor—she is a great friend of mine, having been Chief Whip at the same time as me—brings great political skill to her job. It will be very beneficial to bring together those two skills. We hope that a degree of progress will be made by the Ministry of Defence once some steps have been taken in the work of procurement.