13/07/2016 Wednesday in Parliament

Hello and welcome to Wednesday in Parliament.

A Prime Minister departs, but not without first

No one had a clue who I was until eventually someone

said, "Hey, Cameron, Prime Minister's Questions,

A show that, inevitably, reflects on upheaval

inside the Conservatives and bitter in-fighting within Labour.

We've had resignation, nomination, competition and coronation.

They haven't even decided what the rules are, yet!

After publication of the Iraq inquiry report, MPs debate

whether action should be taken against Tony Blair.

This Parliament at this stage should hold him accountable.

Theresa May is Britain's new Prime Minister.

David Cameron's six-year tenure at 10 Downing Street is over,

two General Election successes to his name,

The transition of power from outgoing leader to incoming

leader followed long-standing tradition, complete with executive

During the late morning, David Cameron had made the familiar,

short journey from Downing Street to the Commons, for his 182nd

and final session of Prime Ministers Questions as PM.

The chamber, not surprisingly, was packed.

Mr Speaker, this morning I had meetings with ministerial

Other than one meeting this afternoon, with Her Majesty

The Queen, the diary for the rest of my day is remarkably light.

As he prepares to leave Downing Street, can I encourage him

to return to the Big Society agenda that I know he's so passionate

about and can I ask him if he remembers saying shortly

before becoming Prime Minister, politicians are a mixture of egotism

and altruism and you just hope the right one wins out

so people do the right thing, rather than the politically

It seems to me that he stayed on the right side of that divide

in the last six years, not least in the manner

of his departure and I think this country is going to miss him

As for the Big Society, yes, we should use a stronger economy

to build a bigger and stronger society and one of the things

that we are doing is introducing National Citizens Service,

200,000 young people have taken part in that programme and I hope

by the end of this Parliament it will be the norm for

In 33 years in this House, watching five Prime Ministers

and several ex-Prime Ministers, I've seen him achieve a mastery

at that despatch box, unparalleled in my time.

Prime Minister's Questions for all it's theatrics does

have a purpose because it's a time when every week the Prime Minister

has to know absolutely everything that is going on in Whitehall

and often you find out things that you want to stop pretty quickly

I believe that politics is about public service

in the national interest and that is what I've always

This session does have some admirers around the world.

I remember when I did his job and I met Mayor Bloomberg

in New York and we walked down the street and everybody knew

Mayor Bloomberg and everybody said, "Mayor, you're doing a great job."

Nobody had a clue who I was until eventually someone

said, "Hey, Cameron, Prime Minister's Questions,

May we thank the Prime Minister for all his hard work

and his leadership and particularly his commitment to the union

and to Northern Ireland, visiting it often and swimming

in Lough Erne and maybe he'd like to come and

We look forward, the Ulster Unionist Party, to working with the next

Prime Minister and I'm told that there are lots of leadership

There's the England football team, there's Top Gear.

There's even across the big pond a role that needs filling.

Let me thank the honourable gentleman for his kind remarks

and fascinating suggestions for future jobs, I think most

I believe that Northern Ireland is stronger than it was six years ago.

58,000 more people in work, the full devolution of justice

and home affairs delivered under this Government.

Mr Speaker, it's only right that after six years as Prime Minister

we thank the Honourable member for Witney for his service.

Jeremy Corbyn said he'd been listening to what Theresa

And she said it's harder than ever for young people to

So, does the Prime Minister think this is because of record low house

building or his Government's apparent belief that ?450,000

First of all, let me say at the despatch box how warmly

I congratulate the Home Secretary on becoming leader of

the Conservative Party and when it comes to women Prime Ministers,

I'm very pleased to be able to say pretty soon it's going to be 2-0.

On the issue of housing and homelessness, as I said,

He asks about this issue of affordability,

When I became Prime Minister because of what had happened

to the mortgage market, a first-time buyer often needed

to have as much as ?30,000 to put a deposit down.

Because of the combination of Help to Buy and shared ownership,

some people are actually able to get on the housing ladder now

with a deposit of as little as ?2000 and with low mortgage rates as well

and the new houses we're building, we're

Mr Speaker, the malaise seems a little deeper still.

The Home Secretary said, talking of the economy,

she said, so that it really does work for everyone,

because it is apparent to anyone in touch with the real world that

people do not feel our economy works that way.

Isn't she right that too many people in too many places in Britain

feel their economy has been destroyed in towns

they're in because the industries have gone, there are levels of high

unemployment or underemployment and a deep sense of malaise?

And to be accused of sloth in delivery by the right honourable

gentleman, let's just take the last week.

We've both been having these leadership elections.

We've had resignation, nomination, competition and coronation.

They haven't even decided what the rules are, yet!

If they ever got into power it would take them about a year

Democracy is an exciting and splendid thing and I'm

The Home Secretary, Mr Speaker, talking of the economy,

she said many people find themselves exploited by unscrupulous bosses.

I can't imagine who she is referring to!

Let me say something to him about the democratic process

of leadership elections because I did say

a couple of weeks ago that

I thought, I have to say, I'm beginning to admire his tenacity.

He has reminded me of the Black Knight in Monty

He has been kicked so many times but he says, keep going,

Mr Speaker, I would like the Prime Minister to address

another issue that the House voted on last week.

I've got a question from Nina, it's a question from somebody

She says, I would like to know if there is any possibility that

a European Union citizen, who has lived in Britain for 30

years, can have their right of permanent residence

revoked or deported, depending on the Brexit

We are working hard to do what we want, which is to give

a guarantee to EU citizens that they will have their rights

respected, all those who have come to this country.

I'm glad he mentions e-mails because actually I've

Now, I got this and I'm not making this up, I promise,

I got this on the 16th September 2015 from someone called

"Please, please keep dignity and not triumphalism during the first PMQs

She said, "because Tom Watson, who may oust Jeremy Corbyn,

He's experienced, organised and far more dangerous in the long-term."

She goes on, "so sensible and polite answers to Mr Corbyn, let him

After this is over I've got to find Judith and find out

Jeremy Corbyn wished Mr Cameron's family well.

I'd also like him to pass on my thanks to his mum

for her advice about ties and suits and socks.

It's extremely kind of her and I'd be grateful if he'd pass that

I'm reflecting on the lesson that she offered.

I will certainly send his good wishes back to my mother.

He's looking absolutely splendid today.

But it gives me the opportunity to put a rumour to rest

as well, even more serious than the Strictly Come Dancing one

and he'll appreciate this because El Gatto,

his cat, is particularly famous, and the rumour

And I have photographic evidence to prove it.

He belongs to the House and the staff love him

The jokes flying thick and fast at PMQs.

David Cameron had, back in 2010, been the Prime Minister

of a Coalition Government when the Tories were in power

Despite that, the Speaker didn't call any Lib Dem MP to contribute

These days the third party in the Commons is the SNP.

Its leader wished the outgoing Prime Minister well, but he said

some of the issues his successor would be handling were unlikely

The first vote of her premiership is likely to be imposing Trident

against the wishes of almost every single MP from Scotland.

she says she plans to plough on...meanwhile, she plans

to plough on with Brexit, regardless of the fact that Scotland

How does the outgoing Prime Minister think that all of this will go

On Trident, there will be a vote in this House

should decide and actually many in Scotland support our nuclear

deterrent, maintaining it and the jobs that come in Scotland.

He asks about the record of this Government when it comes to Scotland

140,000 more people in work in Scotland, massive investment

in the renewable industries in Scotland, the two

in our history built in Scotland, a powerhouse parliament,

a referendum that was legal, decisive and fair and I might add,

a Scotsman winning Wimbledon twice while I was Prime Minister.

Nevermind Indy Two, I think it's time for Andy Two.

The end of the half-hour session allowed David Cameron to sign off

with some thoughtful, valedictory comments, in the style

of Tony Blair nine years before, though he was simultaneously

resigning as a Member of the Commons.

For the last question at this PMQs, the Speaker called a veteran former

Can I ask that, as no doubt he will have some plans

for a slightly more enjoyable and relaxed Wednesday

morning and lunchtime, nevertheless he will still be

an active participant in this House as it faces a large number

As no two people know what Brexit means at the moment,

we need his advice and his statesmanship as much

Can I thank my right honourable friend for his very kind remarks.

I remember one of the toughest conversations I had in politics

was actually when I was Leader of the Opposition and I was trying

to get him to join my front bench and he was on a bird-watching

holiday in Patagonia and it was almost impossible

He is not always the easiest person to get hold of.

We tried, but Tory modernisation has never quite got as far as getting

Kenneth Clarke to carry a mobile phone.

He did briefly have one, but he said the problem is people

We had to move, I seem to remember in Opposition,

we had to move our morning meeting to accommodate his

But I will watch these exchanges from the backbenches.

I will miss the roar of the crowd, I will miss the barbs

from the Opposition, but I will be willing you on.

And when I say willing you on, I don't just mean willing

on the new Prime Minister at this despatch box or indeed just willing

on the front bench defending the manifesto that I helped to put

together, but I mean willing all of you on, because people come

here with huge passion for the issues they care about.

They come here with great love for the constituencies

They are also willing on this place because, yes,

we can be pretty tough and test and challenge our leaders, perhaps

more than some other countries, but that is something we should be

proud of and we should keep at it and I hope you will all keep at it

The last thing I'd say is that you can achieve a lot

You can get a lot of things done and that in the end,

the public service, the national interest, that is

Nothing is really impossible if you put your mind to it.

After all, as I once said, I was the future, once.

The Commons giving Mr Cameron an ovation he'll probably

Well, four hours after those moments in the Palace of Westminster came

David Cameron, plus family, walked out of Number 10

and after a final few words to the waiting media,

and those final, final photographs on the Downing Street steps,

the outgoing PM was taken, complete with police escort,

to that other Palace, namely Buckingham Palace.

There, he tendered his resignation to the Queen.

And a matter of minutes later, Her Majesty met Theresa May and

Theresa May is Britain's 54th Prime Minister,

the second woman to hold the job, the late Margaret Thatcher

Mrs May addressed the nation in Downing Street.

I have just been to Buckingham Palace where Her Majesty The Queen

has asked me to form a new government and I accepted.

You're watching our round-up of the day at Westminster.

Peers recall the so-called 'battle of Orgreave' during the long

drawn-out miners' strike of 32 years ago.

MPs have begun a two day debate on Sir John Chilcot's report

It concluded that the UK went to war before the peace

process was exhausted, that intelligence was flawed

and that the post war planning was inadequate.

The then Prime Minister, Tony Mr Blair, said the report

should lay to rest allegations of bad faith, lies or deceit.

But as MPs sought to tease out the lessons that needed to be

learned there were deep divisions over Mr Blair's responsibility

and whether action should be taken against him.

A reading of Sir John's report, however, suggests flaws,

Tony Blair's point to Parliament on the 18th March 2003,

"I have never put our justification for action as regime change," only

to find in a private note from Blair to Bush just a week later

on the 26th March, "that's why Iraq's weapons of mass destruction,

the immediate justification for action is ridding

Iraq of Saddam Hussein and that is the real prize."

These findings relate to decisions taken at that time

and the arrangements and processes in place at the time.

It is, therefore, for those who were ministers at the time

This government's role is not to seek to apportion blame

It is to ensure that the lessons identified by Chilcot are learned

and that they have already led to changes or the changes

While Chilcott finds there were no deliberate attempts

made to mislead people, the intelligence on which the war

was based was clearly flawed and it did not justify the certainty

which was attached to it by the government.

Can I ask my right honourable friend whether she's aware of an attempt

to call a contempt motion for the House to consider

against Tony Blair and does she agree with me that whatever else

is in the Chilcot report, it does not give grounds

There has been no admission of deliberately misleading this

House and so therefore, if I may just finish,

therefore if this house was to attempt to make a factual

finding, in my view it would be a kangaroo court.

In my view it would not be allowing the person accused to be able

to represent themselves or be able to speak and in those circumstances

it would fly in the face, in my view, of the established

One thing this makes quite clear is nobody has committed any crime

and as one who was present at the time, I have absolutely no

doubt that nobody acted at the time on any other basis

than that they believed passionately they were acting

This Parliament at this stage should hold him accountable.

Not because it's a matter of pursuing the former

Prime Minister but because it will demonstrate and illustrate that

even retrospectively, if a Parliament is systematically

misled they will say up with it, they shall not put.

When the Prime Minister told this house that he believed that

Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction,

he believed it implicitly to be true.

He was not making up the intelligence.

He was not telling this house anything other

than what he believed to be true, let alone sort of inventing a lie,

The Iraq war has tarnished our reputation, ignored

international law, undermined international institutions

like the United Nations, which we worked so hard at building

It destroyed public confidence in our leaders and in Parliament

and it made it infinitely more difficult for a government to make

the case for war by making the prospect of humanitarian

intervention all the more unpalatable to many.

So, how will Britain's departure from the EU,

commonly known as Brexit, impact on the troubled

In a debate in Westminster Hall, the Business Minister,

Anna Soubry said continuing access to the EU market without

The United Kingdom steel sector exported 6.3 million

tonnes of steel last year, 3.3 million tonnes of which went

That's how important the EU is when it comes to the exporting

of steel, so access to that single market, I would suggest,

is absolutely critical, not just for steel but indeed

Let's turn to the automotive sector, which has been a massive success

Huge numbers of cars are exported to EU markets and many of them

I went to Nissan only the other week and I was reminded 45%

of the steel used by Nissan is made here in Britain.

The situation we now face is probably one of the most

What we do now will have serious consequences for our future.

The pound is plummeting and investment is going elsewhere.

This experiment with an EU referendum to satisfy Tory

backbenchers has completely backfired and it's now apparent

There is no industrial plan, there is no industrial strategy

but there is no plan for going forward.

The vote on the 23rd June has produced an enormous

Because of that uncertainty, businesses quite reasonably

and logically might want to pause on their investment plans.

Let's just wait the next quarter and the quarter after that in order

to invest in new plants and machinery.

If we are in a global race with regards to economic progress

we can't afford to be pausing for a quarter or two,

we will be left behind and our competitiveness will be

eroded as a result, so what is the government doing

in order to ensure that we provide as much clarity as possible?

Probably the most vivid and certainly some of the most

violent images of the miners' strike in the 1980s were those witnessed

at the Orgreave coking plant, near Sheffield.

There, a virtual pitched battle was fought on several days in June

1984 between police and thousands of striking miners.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has this week ruled that

a full report into allegations of police misconduct at Orgreave

In the Lords, a Labour peer said it was high time

Could the noble Lord the Minister just confirm that media reports have

revealed the previously redacted sections of the Independent Police

Complaints Commission report from June of last year,

which exposed striking similarities between the personnel and alleged

practices of South Yorkshire Police at Orgreave and Hillsborough.

Could he also confirmed in a letter to the Home Secretary last month,

several MPs called for a public enquiry and said that trust

would never truly be restored until we found out the entire truth

about Orgreave and the wider policing of the miner's strike,

including the allegations of police mistreatment of striking miners.

The IPCC has specifically pointed out that a decision on an enquiry

at this stage could cross over the further investigations

of the criminal or potential criminal prosecutions.

With regard to the disclosure of the unredacted report

by a newspaper on the 4th of May 2016, the entire unredacted

report was not disclosed, however that which was disclosed did

show a number of senior officers acting in common in regard

As regards to the observations that have been made by the temporary

Chief Constable and the MPs, I agree those observations were made.

I represented a mining community in the other house.

The primary responsibility for what happened rests with the leaders of

the mining community who brought many numbers of people to the site

and were prepared to use force and threats of force in order to

implement policies which were as much political as they were

industrial and have basic seeded, that would have subverted the

principles of democratic government. I represented the mining community

in the other house. I was very active during the strike

in 1980 to 1984 and I must say, I saw police violence as well

and I do feel there ought to be an enquiry, generally,

about policing of the miners' strikes because it is one

of the reasons for the disenchantment with politics

that we saw three weeks ago I'm not going to anticipate

a decision that will be made I would observe that

following the incident at Orgreave there were 51 picketers

who were injured and 72 But do join us for our

next daily round-up. Until then, from me,

Keith Macdougall, goodbye