Ukraine

Richard Drax Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd February 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We have to recognise the lesson of 2014, which is that we have to move away from a dependence on Russian hydrocarbons, and the Government will pursue policies to that end.

[Richard Drax (South Dorset) (Con)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend and the Defence Secretary on their brilliant work at this very difficult time. Mr Putin is a bully, and bullies recognise only one thing: military force. If we are to fight for the freedom that we claim to hold so dear, we have to pay to defend it. Will my right hon. Friend go back to the EU and NATO, in particular, and say that we have to raise our spending budgets to at least 3% to have more planes, more ships and more men to deter Russia and not to wage war, but to prevent one from happening?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is completely right. The British Government are continually exhorting our European friends to exceed the 2% threshold. It would be a great thing if we could get some of them up to 2%, never mind 3%.

Living with Covid-19

Richard Drax Excerpts

Monday 21st February 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I have not only consulted them for their opinions, but have taken their advice. I hope very much that after these exchanges, the hon. Member will be able to see a press conference involving both those gentlemen, and hear the questions that will no doubt be put to them as well.

[Richard Drax (South Dorset) (Con)]

To lead is to be in a lonely place. I have seen courage today, and I want to thank my right hon. Friend for the statement that he has made. He may recall that we were not on the same side when it came to lockdown. In that context, may I gently suggest to him that were a pandemic to strike again, the Government should advise and counsel, and should not curb our freedoms?

[The Prime Minister]

It is fair to say that I think everyone will want to learn all the lessons from this pandemic and make sure that we take the best steps should a new variant strike us, but I have great confidence in vaccines.

Ukraine

Richard Drax Excerpts

Tuesday 25th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman is making an important point. What we are all discussing at the moment is what we can do to fortify NATO’s eastern/south-eastern flank. The French are looking at Romania. There are questions about Hungary and what we might do there; as he knows, there are complex issues involving the Hungarian minority in Ukraine. Everybody—particularly the Americans; he heard what I said about the 8,500 troops getting ready to go to Europe—can see the need now to move NATO forces, to fortify NATO’s eastern flank.

[Richard Drax (South Dorset) (Con)]

The diplomacy of the velvet glove must be supported by a steel fist if it is to be effective. Does the indirect threat to NATO inform the Prime Minister that NATO must spend more money on its conventional forces? In that respect, will he reconsider the 10,000 cut to our Army?

[The Prime Minister]

We have spent record sums on our wonderful Army and it is now more agile, lethal and deployable around world, which is why we are able to move at speed and not just deploy in Estonia but, as I said to the hon. Member for Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport (Luke Pollard), look to move to other parts of NATO’s eastern frontier.

Oral Answers to Questions

Richard Drax Excerpts

Wednesday 12th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

No, Mr Speaker, because I immediately said in my answer to the question that of course we have to be concerned about inflation at all times. What I said, I think on TV, was that some of the predictions then about inflation had not proved well-founded, but clearly inflation is a serious risk. It is going up, we need a strategy to tackle it, and that is what we have.

[Richard Drax (South Dorset) (Con)]

My constituent Grant Bailey went back to Afghanistan in September. He disappeared in December, around Christmas time. We think the Taliban have him. Can my right hon. Friend advise me and his family whether he knows anything about this man, who has him, and what is being done to get him home?

Oral Answers to Questions

Richard Drax Excerpts

Wednesday 8th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving me notice of his question. We are working with industry to get more people into HGV driving, which is a great and well-remunerated profession, by, for instance, ramping up vocational test capacity and funding apprenticeships for people training to be lorry drivers. As the House heard earlier, the career structure of HGV drivers is affecting countries throughout the European Union. I suggest that the hon. Gentleman take up his proposals directly with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport.

[Richard Drax (South Dorset) (Con)]

Q15. What steps he is taking to improve infrastructure in order to attract more businesses to Weymouth.

[The Prime Minister]

This Government are committed to levelling up the whole country, and Dorset is no exception. I am delighted that the local growth fund in Dorset has contributed £98.4 million to 54 projects since 2015, and I understand that Dorset Council has also made a bid through the levelling-up fund to improve access at Weymouth station.

[Richard Drax]

As a former soldier, I know that time is never wasted on reconnaissance. May I ask my right hon. Friend to come and get some good Dorset sea air, visit Weymouth and see the infrastructure for himself? Until we improve it, we cannot attract the investment, jobs and prosperity that we so desperately need, in an ancient seaside resort that needs a bit of love, attention and Government money.

[The Prime Minister]

I can think of nothing nicer than a trip to Weymouth, which I think was the favourite watering hole of George III—or so I am told by the Lord Chancellor. I will do my utmost to oblige my hon. Friend.

Health and Social Care

Richard Drax Excerpts

Tuesday 7th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I disagree vehemently with what the hon. Lady says because the economy is coming back much more strongly than many predicted, including the Office for Budget Responsibility, which is a good thing. If we had followed the advice from the Labour party we would still be in lockdown, but we are seeing growth returning and jobs being created, and I do not believe anything in this plan will do anything to dent that confidence. On the contrary, businesses want to know that their workforce have the security of a good health and social care plan to back them up, and that is what this Government are providing.

[Richard Drax (South Dorset) (Con)]

As Conservatives, broken pledges and tax rises should concern us. Our finances are in a perilous state; surely a radical review of the NHS is needed if this money is not going to disappear into another black hole. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Conservative way to raise revenue is to lower taxes, not raise them?

[The Prime Minister]

I do agree with that general proposition, but in the current circumstances, after 18 months in which it has been necessary for the Government to perform the most enormous fiscal exertions to put their arms around the country at a very difficult and dangerous time, it is right that we take these steps to put the NHS back on a sustainable footing and to deal with the problems of social care which make long-term solutions for the NHS—the very reform that my hon. Friend and I want to see—so difficult to achieve.

Afghanistan

Richard Drax Excerpts

Monday 6th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman is focusing on exactly the right question and the right response from the western world and, indeed, the global community. We need to work together to ensure that, as far as we possibly can, we condition the new Government and new authorities in Kabul to understand that Afghanistan cannot slide back into being a cesspit of terror. That is our effort today.

[Richard Drax (South Dorset) (Con)]

Many lessons will have been learned and relearned from Afghanistan—not least the need for boots on the ground. With the US becoming more isolated, will my right hon. Friend look again at the disastrous plan to reduce the Army by 10,000?

[The Prime Minister]

The Government are proud of what we have done since we came in to increase the size of our defence commitments by the biggest amount since the end of the cold war. On the hon. Gentleman’s point about Afghanistan, the reality is that even when there were 130,000 western troops in the country, it was not possible to subjugate the Taliban, and I am afraid that we are living with the lessons of that today.

Afghanistan

Richard Drax Excerpts

Wednesday 18th August 2021 Commons Chamber

[Richard Drax (South Dorset) (Con)]

As a former soldier, I have watched the scenes of chaos with great sadness—sadness for the 457 men and women of our own armed forces who died doing their duty and for the scores of others with life-changing injuries. Was it all for nothing? I hope that they do not think so, because their courage and sacrifice lit a torch in a dark place that the Taliban, however hard they try, will find impossible to totally extinguish. As we have heard, they also prevented any terrorist attack on the west for 20 years from Afghanistan. I also pay tribute to all those brave Afghans who have helped us over the past 20 years. I hope that we can evacuate all those who need to get out. We must never ever forget the men and women, our allies and friends, without whom we could not have borne our share of the burden over all these years.

Although I know that the Government are doing all that they can to bring some semblance of order to the withdrawal, it is a fact that not all will escape the vengeance of the Taliban, despite the current amnesty, in which I have no confidence. My concern now, as has been expressed by many in the House, is that this rushed withdrawal will create—perhaps I should say, is creating—a vacuum. From now, we face a resurgent fundamentalism in Afghanistan, the prospect of the country once more harbouring those who would do us harm, and significant growth in the drug trade from which the Taliban will get their funds. While the Taliban want only to export their heroin, others will use the ungoverned space to foment and spread their extremist ideology. We have only to look at why we went into Afghanistan almost exactly 20 years ago to see what that means. Countries such as Russia, China, Pakistan and Iran are already circling like sharks, and I shudder to think what the future holds, not only for the Afghans but for the west. We must not be naive and accept without evidence that the Taliban will soften their stance, as many honourable colleagues have said. That will have to be proven.

I would like to end—I am referring to my phone, which I do not like to do—with a comment from a very distinguished general. The Defence Secretary is the Chamber and, as a former soldier, I feel that I have a duty to read what the general says, as he served in Afghanistan on many occasions:

“I hope someone will ask what price the Defence Review? The Defence Secretary’s filleting of the army means it could not sustain an operation in Afghanistan or elsewhere. If the last few days show anything, it is that you have to be able to sustain an operation over decades. Strategic patience”—

a word used by my hon. Friend the Member for Tonbridge and Malling (Tom Tugendhat) in his excellent speech—

“is all. The cut of 10,000 troops from the army removes that capability.”

To sum up, in the short time I have left, he ends by saying:

“I guess the strategic point is this. Afghanistan is a disaster of strategic proportions, with implications for our foreign policy, defence policy, for NATO, and for our relationship with the US itself. And what is our response? To cut our army by 10,000. Some signal of our intent, some signal to our allies.”

[Several hon. Members rose—]

Afghanistan

Richard Drax Excerpts

Thursday 8th July 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

This country remains, as I have just told the House, one of the biggest bilateral donors of aid to Afghanistan in the world. The people of this country should take great pride in that. A statistic I did not mention earlier, to get back to the hon. Lady’s earlier point, is that, partly thanks to the work of UK aid and the whole NATO mission, mortality for women and children in Afghanistan has fallen faster than in any other low-income country.

[Richard Drax (South Dorset) (Con) [V]]

First, I pay tribute to and thank all those who served in Afghanistan so professionally and courageously. May I press my right hon. Friend on the point raised by my right hon. Friend the Member for North Somerset (Dr Fox) by asking him how we, the UK and our allies, can now physically stop Afghanistan from once again becoming a haven for international terrorism? Let us not be naïve: the Taliban are back and all the horrors associated with them.

[The Prime Minister]

A couple of quick points. It is important for my hon. Friends not to exaggerate our ability, by military might alone, to stop parts of Afghanistan already being used for terrorist purposes if that were what the Taliban desired to do, given that they already possess substantial portions of that country. It is also the case that there are many other parts of the world that can be used as a base for international terrorism. What we propose to do is continue to work with our friends to look at an outside-in approach to counterterrorism, and to work with regional actors to ensure we have a solution in Kabul that prevents that country lurching back into becoming a haven for terrorism in the way that he describes. As I have told the House, I do not think that that will necessarily be easy, but it is by no means impossible and the hope is certainly there.

His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Richard Drax Excerpts

Monday 12th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Richard Drax (South Dorset) (Con)]

It is both a pleasure and an honour to represent my constituents in today’s tribute to His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh. Rather appropriately, I was only a stone’s throw from the sea when I drafted this speech on Sunday—the sea upon which Prince Philip served with such distinction in the Royal Navy. I heard the dreaded but not unexpected news outside Weymouth station on Friday. My first thought was for Her Majesty the Queen and their family. My second was for the nation, which has lost an immeasurable treasure.

My own association with Prince Philip was limited. I physically met him once, at the National Sailing Academy on Portland, and I joined him on parade twice for Trooping the Colour. I also received plenty of feedback from my parents, especially my mother, when he came to stay at home while on duty in Dorset. I cannot claim, therefore, to have known him, but the odd thing is that I feel as though I did. Judging by the tributes that have poured in, it appears that many share that sentiment, such was the man.

There is another source of information about the Prince that I would like to share with the House. Admiral Sir Robert Woodard KCVO commanded the royal yacht for five years before she was laid up. A special friendship with my dear departed papa has passed to me. As he is unable to address the House himself, I am the admiral’s humble conduit. As the House can imagine, the admiral got to know the Duke well, as he was revered by both officers and crew. To the admiral, the Duke was a quite outstanding man. The admiral continues in his own words:

“We will only discover what he has achieved worldwide after his death and with wonderment. Amongst his huge gifts is, perhaps, the most important––a huge sense of humour and fun. Set light to it, and the evening’s made! He was a very rewarding man to recount a funny incident to. Whilst commanding the yacht, there were several occasions when the plan did not always account for factors that affected the aim! High winds in confined areas is one. Going through Pegasus Bridge at the D-day celebrations at minimum steering speed of 6 knots, in the failing light and with only 8 feet either side we could not even see the water from each end of the ship’s Bridge! ‘Keep your eyes on the road!’ Prince Philip said. ‘That’s all I can see, sir,’ I replied, and we both laughed.

Prince Philip would express his satisfaction with your efforts if they deserved it, and add a cryptic comment. He was always concerned that everyone was being properly looked after. He was insistent on being given the complete detail about any modification to the yacht herself. If at the end of your explanation you had not completely convinced him––stand by for searching questions! He was a good listener, but don’t rattle on.

Both the Prince and Her Majesty the Queen enjoyed nothing more than looking after themselves. And nowhere did this become more evident than at family barbecues. The Duke did the cooking, the Queen, the ‘greens’. Finally, I witnessed Prince Philip’s involvement in a speech being drafted by the Queen. His was the penultimate version.”

So says the admiral.

The admiral, like me, can think of no greater tribute to the Duke than to build and commission another royal yacht. The white ensign flying proudly from any of Her Majesty’s ships is enough to stir most hearts, quite apart from generating all the good will and business that Britannia did so supremely well. Our sympathies extend to the Queen and the royal family for their loss. The Duke’s legacy will live on for countless years. He was the Queen’s rock for 73 years, but he was the nation’s, too. God bless her, and rest in peace.