"I hope that the Minister will explain why there should be any compulsory retirement age for Justices of the Supreme Court. I see no justification for it...." Lord Gilbert - View Speech
"I am much obliged to the Minister for making reference to my remarks. All I can say is that I have listened to the debate with great care and I have not heard a single reason put forward for a retirement age for judges. Everyone says 70, 75, 80, 85—just …..." Lord Gilbert - View Speech
"My Lords, is it not the case that, in order to be credible, any deterrent has to be simultaneously invulnerable and undetectable? That is clearly not the case with any Cruise system even if it is supersonic—..." Lord Gilbert - View Speech
"I am sorry. It is also clearly not the case with any of the extraordinary arrangements that the Liberal party seems to be contemplating at the moment...." Lord Gilbert - View Speech
"My Lords, it will be within your Lordships’ knowledge that unfortunately down the years we have not always enjoyed the full support of our American friends with respect to matters relating to the Falklands. The situation is slightly different now. If the reports are accurate, the present American Secretary of …..." Lord Gilbert - View Speech
"While I agree entirely with the Minister that Iran forms an important part of this problem, I disagree with him entirely that that is a reason for it not to be at a conference. I thought there was every reason for the Iranians to be at a conference to let …..." Lord Gilbert - View Speech
"My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend Lord Wood of Anfield on taking up his new responsibilities, on which he made a very distinguished “maiden speech”. I sincerely hope that we will hear more from him in the future, as our debates will be enriched by his contributions.
"My Lords, when I first was lucky enough to join your Lordships’ House some 15 years ago, and I was already appointed as the Minister of State for Defence Procurement, I held strongly to the view that defence matters are far too important to be treated in a partisan way. …..." Lord Gilbert - View Speech
"My Lords, I, too, welcome this Statement, which must have been very difficult for the Minister to deliver. It took him 13 minutes to read out the Secretary of State’s Statement, and all he had to do was get up and say, “Sorry, you were right; we were wrong”, but …..." Lord Gilbert - View Speech
"My Lords, is it not clear from the Prime Minister’s Statement that the Government have now abandoned the Secretary of State’s claim that the Permanent Secretary authorised what was going on? The word “authorised” did not appear once in the Prime Minister’s Statement—and I was listening very carefully. The Leader …..." Lord Gilbert - View Speech