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Adjournment debate on Thursday, 10 January 2008, in the House of Commons, led by Lord Browne of Ladyton. The answering member was Liam Fox.

Armed Forces Personnel

Debate on a motion for the adjournment on armed forces personnel.

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
470 c578-626 
Session
2007-08
Department
Ministry of Defence
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
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Proceeding contributions
Speaker | 470 c580 (Link to this contribution) Order. May I say to the Defence Secretary and the House that we have a 10-minute limit on Back-Bench...
John Baron | 470 c580 (Link to this contribution) I welcome that invitation from the Defence Secretary and will indeed take him up on it. Perhaps he w...
Show all contributions (87)
Lord Beamish | 470 c580 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that the problem with the example of the Hounslow barracks, to which...
John Baron | 470 c579 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the review of accommodation because it is important. However, given that the cross-party P...
Lord Browne of Ladyton | 470 c583-4 (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Gentleman knows, I have enormous respect for his knowledge of the circumstances, but I d...
Bob Russell | 470 c584 (Link to this contribution) Can the Secretary of State confirm not only that his wish that that happens has been conveyed to tho...
Lord Browne of Ladyton | 470 c584-5 (Link to this contribution) The intention is that it will be a statutory duty, so if the councils behave legally there will be n...
Chris Bryant | 470 c581-2 (Link to this contribution) I want to ask my right hon. Friend about an issue that affects many service personnel. When we debat...
Lord Browne of Ladyton | 470 c581 (Link to this contribution) The issues that underpin the hon. Gentleman's question generate a significant amount of support acro...
Lord Browne of Ladyton | 470 c580-1 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for pointing that out. It would not serve this debate well for me to...
Liam Fox | 470 c589-91 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is, of course, correct. I can say with all sincerity that it is hard not to fee...
Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom | 470 c589 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Vale of Glamorgan (John Smith) is right to say that the armed forces received pa...
John P Smith | 470 c589 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman accept that, across the board, the British armed forces, quite rightly, had ...
Liam Fox | 470 c587 (Link to this contribution) They do indeed. I am not complaining about the military decisions or the presence of the personnel: ...
Lord Browne of Ladyton | 470 c585-6 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is a persistent and, on occasion, imaginative advocate for his constituents who work ...
Lord Touhig | 470 c591-2 (Link to this contribution) I join other right hon. and hon. Members in paying tribute to the professionalism and dedication of ...
Speaker | 470 c591 (Link to this contribution) Order. Before I call the next speaker, I remind the House that Mr. Speaker has put a 10-minute limit...
Lord Browne of Ladyton | 470 c580 (Link to this contribution) I am conscious of the need for me to respect the rights of Back Benchers to make contributions to th...
Lord Browne of Ladyton | 470 c579-80 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes an important point, which I shall tackle in more detail in my speech. To gi...
Lord Browne of Ladyton | 470 c578-9 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House has considered the matter of armed forces personnel." I welcome the ...
Ian Davidson | 470 c585 (Link to this contribution) Does the Secretary of State agree that behind the military personnel lie those who supply the forces...
Patrick Mercer | 470 c583 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Secretary of State for his generosity in giving way again. The fact remains that while r...
Lord Browne of Ladyton | 470 c582-3 (Link to this contribution) I unequivocally assure my hon. Friend that, if not the best, we are as good as the best in the world...
Patrick Mercer | 470 c581 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State consider or put his weight behind requests for a decoration, medal or aw...
Liam Fox | 470 c589 (Link to this contribution) As I have made clear, I believe that our armed forces are in a unique position. If the Government de...
Liam Fox | 470 c588-9 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that assurance, but I would have thought that the Secretary of State and his Minis...
Lord Browne of Ladyton | 470 c587-8 (Link to this contribution) During my speech, in response to an intervention, I explained at some length my position on the awar...
Lord Beamish | 470 c587 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman recognise that some of those troops based in the Gulf serve the Afghanistan ...
Liam Fox | 470 c586-7 (Link to this contribution) May I fully associate myself and the Conservative party with the praise offered by the Secretary of ...
Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom | 470 c595 (Link to this contribution) Without turning this into a mutual appreciation society, may I say that the Defence Committee will c...
Willie Rennie | 470 c595 (Link to this contribution) I will leave the matter there for today. My main proposition is that we are asking too much from ou...
Lord Touhig | 470 c592-3 (Link to this contribution) I understand the hon. Gentleman's point. The instinctive reaction of the British people is to suppor...
Tony Baldry | 470 c592 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman gave great service as a Defence Minister; he was much respected for what he...
Julian Brazier | 470 c593 (Link to this contribution) I applaud the right hon. Gentleman's suggestion. Does he agree that the huge merit of that proposal ...
Willie Rennie | 470 c594-5 (Link to this contribution) It is an honour to contribute to the debate today. I am in the place of my hon. Friend the Member fo...
Lord Touhig | 470 c593-4 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes an important and valid point. There is evidence that that has happened. I a...
Tobias Ellwood | 470 c597 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that, with respect, the hon. Gentleman is showing his ignorance about what the military ...
Tobias Ellwood | 470 c596 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman mentions Faslane and he brings up an interesting point in Liberal Democrat policy...
Willie Rennie | 470 c596 (Link to this contribution) That is a slight extrapolation from what is the case. We are overstretched because we are in Iraq. I...
Tobias Ellwood | 470 c596 (Link to this contribution) I am testing the hon. Gentleman's patience, but I am pleased that he has given way because he is now...
Willie Rennie | 470 c596 (Link to this contribution) You may be reassured, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that we will not be entertaining too much discussion on nu...
Speaker | 470 c596 (Link to this contribution) Order. We are debating armed forces personnel, and I would not want the hon. Member for Dunfermline ...
Willie Rennie | 470 c596 (Link to this contribution) I will give the hon. Gentleman one more chance.
Willie Rennie | 470 c596 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is shaking his head, but that is the reality.
David Kidney | 470 c604-5 (Link to this contribution) I want to touch on three Stafford experiences in my brief speech, and to draw from each of them a po...
Tony Baldry | 470 c605 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman and I share, as it were, distribution depots, and it is sometimes forgotten just ...
John P Smith | 470 c599-601 (Link to this contribution) I welcome this opportunity to take part in today's debate, although it is a brief one. I must say th...
Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom | 470 c601-3 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate the hon. Member for Vale of Glamorgan (John Smith) on two of the comments that he mad...
Adam Holloway | 470 c598 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that it is a pity that the additional assistance and changes within De...
Willie Rennie | 470 c598-9 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the Secretary of State, having gone through the agony of the past year, will be keen ...
Willie Rennie | 470 c597-8 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has made an interesting point, and I hope that the Secretary of State will deal w...
Willie Rennie | 470 c597 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is fabricating a rather contorted argument. We are in Iraq because the Conservati...
Adam Holloway | 470 c597 (Link to this contribution) I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman is aware of the spate of thefts from Basra airbase and asso...
John Baron | 470 c608 (Link to this contribution) I shall move on. I should warn the Minister that the public take those failings very seriously. It ...
Eric Joyce | 470 c608 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way, as I realise that we are near the end of his all...
John Baron | 470 c607 (Link to this contribution) I do not disagree with that, but part of the problem has been the constraint on finances.
John Baron | 470 c607-8, (corrigendum) 770;470 c607-8 (Link to this contribution) Yes it has. Spending on the military has fallen from 2.9 to 2.5 per cent. of our gross domestic prod...
John Baron | 470 c606-7 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Stafford (Mr. Kidney) made a number of interesting points, particularly those re...
Lord Beamish | 470 c607 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman made reference to the Defence Committee's report on housing. We visited Hounslow ...
Tony Baldry | 470 c611 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has said that there must be a balance between the work done by charities and the ...
Lord Beamish | 470 c611-2 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry to say that the hon. Gentleman has fallen into a trap. When the Defence Committee visited...
John Baron | 470 c610 (Link to this contribution) I said that I had heard Ministers say at the Dispatch Box that they do not hear grumbling from armed...
Lord Beamish | 470 c610-1 (Link to this contribution) I shall come on to accommodation in a moment, but I assure the House that armed forces personnel are...
Speaker | 470 c612 (Link to this contribution) Order. I do not want to slash the time limit on Back-Bench speeches, but only 26 minutes are left an...
Tobias Ellwood | 470 c612-4 (Link to this contribution) I will try to adhere to your recommendation, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I am pleased to follow the hon. Me...
John Baron | 470 c609;470 c608-9 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure that the question made sense, but the bottom line is that Ministers are saying too oft...
Lord Beamish | 470 c609-10 (Link to this contribution) I have had the privilege of serving on the Select Committee on Defence for the past six years. I hav...
John Baron | 470 c608 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure that I heard the last part of that question.
Tobias Ellwood | 470 c608 (Link to this contribution) It did not make sense, so don't worry.
Bob Ainsworth | 470 c623-4 (Link to this contribution) At the end of that we have to remind ourselves that the hon. Member for Westbury (Dr. Murrison) star...
Tobias Ellwood | 470 c624-5 (Link to this contribution) One subject that I have discussed with the Secretary of State is the introduction of a co-ordinator ...
Bob Ainsworth | 470 c625 (Link to this contribution) We will update the House on that, but it is not appropriate to spend much time on it in an already s...
Eric Joyce | 470 c615-6 (Link to this contribution) I listened carefully to what my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence had to say abou...
Speaker | 470 c616 (Link to this contribution) Order. Just two hon. Members wish to speak. The winding-up speeches will start at 5.35 pm and I leav...
Bob Russell | 470 c616-8 (Link to this contribution) I pay tribute to members of Her Majesty's armed forces. In particular, I mention 16 Air Assault Brig...
Lord Davies of Stamford | 470 c618-20 (Link to this contribution) I have obviously drawn the short straw, Mr. Deputy Speaker, but I am grateful at least to have been ...
Tobias Ellwood | 470 c615 (Link to this contribution) Another bizarre intervention from the hon. Gentleman. Does he not understand that the reason why we ...
Eric Joyce | 470 c614 (Link to this contribution) I have not heard the hon. Gentleman mention armed services personnel for the past five minutes of wh...
Bob Ainsworth | 470 c625-6 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Billericay (Mr. Baron), whom I was about to mention, made an extraordinary speec...
Bob Ainsworth | 470 c626 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that I am very short of time. The hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife (Willie Ren...
Tony Baldry | 470 c608 (Link to this contribution) Is that a parliamentary phrase?
David Kidney | 470 c605-6 (Link to this contribution) I totally agree with the hon. Gentleman, and I pay tribute to those staff for their dedication to th...
Andrew Murrison | 470 c620-3 (Link to this contribution) I begin by drawing the attention of the House to my entry in the Register of Members' Interests. I w...
Subjects
Armed forces Casualties Housing Education Iraq Pay Recruitment Staff Social security benefits Training Afghanistan Blood transfusions
Link
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