"I commissioned this report only after the Department was very heavily criticised in the courts for having failed properly to investigate the allegations that were being made. I believed then, as I believe now, that the main reason for that failure was not a lack of will on our part, …..." Bob Ainsworth - View Speech
"Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is rather difficult for people like him, me and the Secretary of State, who do not need to maintain a level of fitness in order to earn our income, to understand the very real fear among firefighters? This issue has not been …..." Bob Ainsworth - View Speech
"Those of us who, in principle, support what the Minister is trying to achieve have always warned about the potential for over-optimism, and about the resistance and about the need to drive this in. None of this appears to be working at the speed that was envisaged. The Government really …..." Bob Ainsworth - View Speech
"Can the Foreign Secretary assure us that the Government are doing everything they can to ensure that the dismemberment of Ukraine stays at the forefront of everyone’s mind? Can he absolutely assure the House that there is no intention on our part of allowing this to slip down the agenda, …..." Bob Ainsworth - View Speech
"There is a problem in Iraq, though, that we need to recognise. It is not just political and it is not just about capability. There needs to be a will from the Iraqi army to defend the Sunni areas of the country. In the Prime Minister’s talks with the new …..." Bob Ainsworth - View Speech
"I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Coventry South (Mr Cunningham) for securing this debate. I think that he and I would be agreeable to the kind of proposal that the hon. Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Damian Collins) made: to use him as part of a cross-party assault …..." Bob Ainsworth - View Speech
"I think that they have been the main agents of this partial victory.
Other people who deserve congratulations include the Higgs Charity, which has an interest in the stadium and has been steadfast in the face of intimidation and attempts to distress and bully it. I have got evidence that …..." Bob Ainsworth - View Speech
"I was coming on to that. The hon. Gentleman clearly has more expertise on football governance than I have; I come at this issue from a Coventry point of view. The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. The football club creditors rule cannot be justified in moral terms; it does not …..." Bob Ainsworth - View Speech
"The Ukrainian separatists have managed to acquire heavy weapons, armour, missile systems and, now, refrigerated trains. They are, beyond argument, an extension of the Kremlin’s power and policy. A gesture strategy simply will not do; we need economic disentanglement, we need effective sanctions and we need, in the face of …..." Bob Ainsworth - View Speech
"In Iraq and Syria and throughout the Muslim world extremists live and dictators survive off the back of the fear and division between Shi’a and Sunni. Those efforts of persuasion that the Foreign Secretary talks about should be aimed not just at political leaders and Governments but at figures of …..." Bob Ainsworth - View Speech