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Defence Policy

I will perhaps give way to the hon. Lady in a while. The right hon. Member for North-East Hampshire needs to do a bit of a job himself, in inspiring his own party. If we are genuinely going to explain defence issues to the nation, we need to start by not deceiving the nation over defence spending. Some Conservative Members on the Front and Back Benches, genuinely want a big increase in defence spending; I understand that. Some, however, repeatedly seek to give the impression that they are committed to that, but they are not. Their own party is not committed to any increase in defence spending. If we are going to try to explain, to develop a level of understanding and to inspire, we need to start with a little bit of honesty, do we not? When the leader of the Conservative party said that he did not back any of the Government's current spending levels other than the health spending level, I know that it upset a lot of people on his Front Bench. Let us acknowledge that. Neither the Conservative party nor the Labour party is committed to any increase in defence spending whatever. If we are going to inspire and explain, we ought at least to be honest.