Chris Leslie
Main Page: Chris Leslie (The Independent Group for Change - Nottingham East)Department Debates - View all Chris Leslie's debates with the Cabinet Office
(13 years, 10 months ago)
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Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op)
Will the Prime Minister explain the procedure used to trigger a meeting of the Cobra emergency response committee? There has obviously been some criticism of the inexplicable delay in that meeting. Was it because the Deputy Prime Minister would have had a role in it, if he had not been out of the country? Will the Prime Minister review this matter and publish that review?
The Prime Minister
Typically, as the hon. Gentleman will know, Cobra is triggered by the Prime Minister. Let me make it clear that on Monday the Foreign Office crisis centre was established with Ministry of Defence people embedded in it, so the idea that two Departments of State were not co-operating is wrong. Cobra is normally exercised by the Prime Minister, and it meets regularly at official level as well, as the hon. Gentleman will know, in relation to a range of different activities that we have to deal with. It has been in activity all over the weekend.