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Intelligence and Security Committee

May I begin by echoing the sentiments that have already been expressed about the members of the Committee who are retiring, not only from the Committee but from the House of Commons? The right hon. Member for East Hampshire (Mr. Mates), who, as my right hon. Friend the Committee Chairman said, is the Committee's longest-standing member, has been an enormous source of guidance to me during my time on the Committee. I have appreciated his wise counsel and sometimes his convivial company, too. The right hon. and learned Member for Devizes (Mr. Ancram), with his great legal knowledge and ministerial experience, has also been a great addition to the Committee and will be sorely missed. I shall personally miss my hon. Friend the Member for Wirral, South (Ben Chapman)—he is a great personal friend but he has also been a fantastic member of the committee. Of course, my right hon. Friend the Member for Pontypridd (Dr. Howells) is retiring from Parliament, too. I have known him since before he was a Member of this House, when he was an employee of the National Union of Mineworkers at the time of the strike. One thing that can never be said about him is that he is not his own man. In every circumstance in which I have ever known him, he does what he thinks is the right thing to do. He has demonstrated that again today.