Libya and the Middle East

Henry Smith Excerpts

Monday 28th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[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.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

Can the Prime Minister say whether the military agreement signed by the previous Government was used to train special forces in Libya and whether those special forces, in what is left of Gaddafi’s regime, have been used against people?

[The Prime Minister]

I am not aware of that, but I think that the full terms of the deal in the desert need to be made clear. Then, those Opposition Members who are calling for the word “sorry” might like to issue it themselves.