Armed Forces Commissioner Bill (Third sitting)

Debate between Pam Cox and Mark Francois

Committee stage
Thursday 12th December 2024 Public Bill Committees

[Mr Francois]

The Minister mentions Ajax. I did not, but as he did, we will read that into the record.

There were times when the Defence Committee would have dearly loved that power. Had we had it, certain programmes might have suffered a different fate. In parallel, there is another important difference between the American Committee system and ours.

[Pam Cox]

Will the right hon. Member give way?

[Mr Francois]

If it is about Ajax, gladly.

[Pam Cox]

The Committees are not comparable, are they? The American system of Select Committees is so different from ours that we are talking about apples and pears.

[Mr Francois]

They are not directly comparable, but as I was coming on to say, the American Committees have a much stronger power over appointments. To illustrate my point, some debates in the American media are about whether the new Defence pick that Donald Trump is advocating may or may not come under some challenge during congressional appointment hearings. That issue only arises because the Committee has a stronger power. Here, there is an increasing trend that a Committee is allowed to interview people and express an opinion, but ultimately it cannot say no.

We all agree that the commissioner will be a very important appointment, for all the reasons that the Minister has outlined. Getting it right is really quite important. In extremis, if the Select Committee were to decide, for some good reason, that a particular candidate were not suitable for the role, would the Minister support the idea of its being allowed to veto the appointment? If not, how does the Minister envisage the Defence Committee playing a part in the appointment of this very important person?