Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Bob Seely

Tuesday 14th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Mr Seely, are you going to be quiet?

[Bob Seely (Isle of Wight) (Con)]

Yes.

[Mr Speaker]

Right—in which case, the shadow Foreign Secretary may continue.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Bob Seely

Monday 23rd October 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The hon. Member must try to keep to the main question. He really is drifting. He must return to the subject of primary education.

[Bob Seely]

Will you allow me to raise this subject during topical questions instead, Mr Speaker?

[Mr Speaker]

No.

[Bob Seely]

Okay. I am sorry, Sir. Thank you.

Will the Minister work with me to ensure that the Isle of Wight Council acts to fulfil its legal obligations? At present it is letting down parents, pupils and teachers.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Bob Seely

Wednesday 5th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I did not hear what was said because Members were chuntering at the same time. I want us to calm it down and to use language that is appropriate to this Chamber. Please make sure we treat each other with the respect that I expect from all of you.

[Bob Seely (Isle of Wight) (Con)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I congratulate the Prime Minister on his balanced approach, unlike that of others in this House. There is increasing concern among epidemiologists, modellers, oncologists and scientists about the use of modelling and forecasts. Among the comments are that the forecasts we may have been using over the past two years are “almost hysterical,” “lurid,” “spectacularly wrong,” “consistently overconfident” and “substantially inflated.” Those comments are from scientists, not journalists or politicians. Does the Prime Minister trust the modelling he is getting, and will the Government consider an inquiry into the use of modelling and forecasts, many of which have been found to be unrelated to reality?

Ukraine

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Bob Seely

Tuesday 7th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[Bob Seely (Isle of Wight) (Con)]

(Urgent Question): To ask the Government for an update—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We cannot just walk past those speaking; hon. Members should walk around them. Please do not obscure the person who is about to speak. Let us try again.

[Bob Seely]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development affairs if she will make a statement on the situation in Ukraine.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Vicky Ford)]

I thank my hon. Friend for the close interest that he takes in foreign affairs. We are deeply concerned by Russia’s pattern of military build-ups in and around Ukraine, and we are closely monitoring the situation. The UK is very clear: any military incursion by Russia into Ukraine would be a strategic mistake, and the Russian Government should expect significant strategic consequences. The cost of an incursion would be catastrophically high.

At the meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers in Riga last week, and at the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe Ministerial Council, the Foreign Secretary, alongside our allies, made crystal clear our commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Foreign Secretary repeated that support bilaterally to her Ukrainian counterpart last Wednesday, 1 December, and to her Russian counterpart on Thursday 2 December. The Prime Minister has also spoken to President Zelensky on a number of occasions, to reiterate the UK’s support. He raised the issue of Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine directly with President Putin when they spoke ahead of COP26.

Our vocal support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is backed by our actions. The Foreign Secretary will host Foreign Minister Kuleba in London tomorrow for the first UK-Ukraine strategic dialogue. Diplomatically, we operate at the heart of the international community’s efforts. Hon. Members will be aware that President Biden is meeting President Putin later today. Yesterday, our Prime Minister met President Biden, and the leaders of France, Germany, and Italy, to ensure that a joint message will be given to President Putin. We have also helped to frame international sanctions against Russia, deepened NATO’s partnership with Ukraine, and led efforts in the UN and OSCE to hold Russia to account.

Militarily, we are providing defensive military support, primarily through Operation Orbital, the UK’s training mission to Ukraine, and since it launched in 2015 we have trained more than 20,000 members of the Ukrainian armed forces. The UK is one of the largest contributors to the OSCE special monitoring mission to Ukraine, and that is playing a critical role in providing impartial reporting on the situation on the ground in eastern Ukraine. Earlier this year, we reaffirmed our commitment to that in the integrated review.

Last year alone, we allocated £40 million in official development assistance and other funding in support of programmes that support prosperity, resilience and stability in Ukraine. We have also deepened our bilateral ties with Ukraine, in particular through our political free trade and strategic partnership agreement. In conclusion, the UK is unwavering in our support of Ukraine’s sovereignty, and its territorial integrity, including of its territorial waters, within its internationally recognised borders. Russia should uphold the OSCE principles and commitments that it freely signed up to, which it is violating through its ongoing aggression against Ukraine.

Afghanistan

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Bob Seely

Wednesday 18th August 2021 Commons Chamber

[Ian Blackford]

Indeed, Mr Speaker.

It is important that the cuts to overseas aid are reversed in their entirety. [Interruption.] I know that the Foreign Secretary is trying to wind me up. When the rest of us were doing what we could in the past few days, he was lying on a sunbed, so I will not take any lectures from someone like him. People are facing the worst situation imaginable and we have a Foreign Secretary who sits laughing and joking on the Government Front Bench. He should be ashamed of himself. He demonstrates that he has no dignity whatsoever. He can carry on saying that the amount has been doubled—

[Bob Seely]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. We have had 20 minutes of speech and we now have a private conversation between Front Benchers. Should we not be debating the subject, Sir?

[Mr Speaker]

That is for me to decide and I have referred twice to both sides trying to antagonise each other, which is not a good idea. Whichever Front Bench it is, they should not be responding. I am sure that Mr Blackford is coming to the end of his speech. He did say that he would not take too long.

His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Bob Seely

Monday 12th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Bob Seely (Isle of Wight) (Con)]

I am very happy to limit myself to five seconds, Mr Speaker, if you want to get somebody else in.

On behalf of Islanders, I pay tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh’s remarkable life and send my condolences to Her Majesty. The Duke visited the Isle of Wight on many occasions, and what brought him back again and again was his love of sailing. He was a regular at Cowes Week and helped to redesign the event in the 1960s. He had many friends on the Island, including my cousin David, who served with him in the Navy and on HMS Chequers, and was stationed in Malta with him in 1949, when the Duke was kind enough to be godfather to David’s son. In much of what he did, the Duke had the desire to make things better, always to look ahead and always to look over the horizon.

Finally, one of the most remarkable things about the Duke for me was that he combined an intense masculinity and manhood—leading men, being able to sail, shoot, hunt, philosophise and write—with an extraordinary respect for his wife and for women. I thought he was a remarkable man, for all of that.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. As we end the contributions to this motion for a Humble Address, it is a sign of the high regard in which the Duke of Edinburgh was held that so many Members have made such moving tributes. Today has brought the House together, and it is at its best when it is together. May The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, rest in peace.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved, nemine contradicente,

That an Humble Address be presented to Her Majesty expressing the deepest sympathies of this House on the death of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the heartfelt thanks of this House and this nation for his unfailing dedication to this Country and the Commonwealth exemplified in his distinguished service in the Royal Navy in the Second World War; his commitment to young people in setting up The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, a scheme which has touched the lives of millions across the globe; his early, passionate commitment to the environment; and his unstinting support to Your Majesty throughout his life.

Adjournment

Resolved, That this House do now adjourn.—(David Duguid.)