News

In December 2021 there were reports in the media of cuts to the number of staff at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and earlier this month the Government announced that 91,000 jobs will be lost across the Civil Service. On Tuesday 24 May 2022 I led a debate in Westminster Hall on funding levels for diplomatic staff in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. My full opening speech is below: “It is a pleasure to open the debate with you in the Chair, Ms Bardell, and I start by thanking Mr Speaker for granting it, and the House of Commons Library for producing a debate pack on this extremely important subject. The debate is about the United Kingdom’s place in the world—the new global Britain—and it is important because it takes place against a background of huge uncertainty for those who work in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The Library debate pack is extremely useful in setting out the various media reports, and we have had previous debates, Select Committee inquiries and questions, but those have elicited only a simple response, which is, “We’ll let you know in the spring.” The last time I looked, May still counted as spring. As the saying goes, “Ne’er cast a clout till May be out.” When May is out, we can plant our geraniums—I say that only because I have just been to the Chelsea flower show; I was on a fact-finding mission.

The Public Order Bill would offer new powers for the policing of protests in England and Wales. The Bill received its Second Reading in the House on Monday 23 May 2022. 

Six days of debate on the Government’s legislative agenda for the year ahead, as set out in the Queen’s Speech, concluded on Wednesday 18 May 2022. A vote was held on the following Humble Address presented to Her Majesty the Queen:

On Wednesday 18 May 2022, the Minister for Justice and Tackling Illegal Immigration made a statement to the House on Foreign National Offender Removal Flights.

I was delighted to meet Anoosheh Ashoori and his family on Tuesday 17 May 2022 at a Reception for Anoosheh at Speaker’s House organised by Janet Daby MP with the kind permission of Mr Speaker who presented Anoosheh with an original encaustic tile from the House of Commons which has been “walked on” by MPs and Prime Ministers over many years.