British Indian Ocean Territory: Sovereignty Debate
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James Cleverly
Main Page: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)Department Debates - View all James Cleverly's debates with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
British Indian Ocean Territory: Sovereignty
James Cleverly Excerpts(3 weeks, 3 days ago)
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Mr Speaker
I am not being funny, but it is amazing that the Minister had those figures to hand.
Sir James Cleverly (Braintree) (Con)
The hon. Gentleman, for whom I have a huge amount of respect, keeps saying that the Government had no choice but to do this deal. I do not believe that to be true. My successor, Lord Cameron, did not believe that to be true either, which is why neither he nor I signed off an agreement. Will the Minister please explain to the House in detail why he believed that he had no choice, including what body, at what time, and with what jurisdiction?
Stephen Doughty
In the interests of time, I refer the right hon. Member to the detailed evidence that I gave in the House of Lords on this matter the other day, including on the legal circumstances. He knows the risk to the operation of the base in the medium and short term, and he recognises the risk of a binding legal judgment, which we believed to be inevitable. His Government knew that, which is why they started the process. He may not have been able to conclude the deal—I accept that, Mr. Speaker—but the previous Government went through 11 rounds of negotiations because they recognised the importance of doing this deal. They knew that securing the facility was crucial to our national security. We put our national security and securing this base first, and that has met with the approval of the United States and other Five Eyes allies.