Results 1-20 of 4,677 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Des Browne

Petition — Flooding (Surrey): Diageo Closures (15 Jul 2009)

Des Browne: The Johnnie Walker whisky bottling plant in Kilmarnock dominates the town. As its Hill street address suggests, it sits above the centre of the town as a solid symbol of Kilmarnock's industrial history. Like the ravens in the tower of London, no matter how bad things get in Kilmarnock, as long as the Johnnie Walker plant is there, there is always hope for the future. For a community that has...

Petition — Flooding (Surrey): Diageo Closures (15 Jul 2009)

Des Browne: I thank my hon. Friend, who has been a stalwart supporter of the campaign that we are conducting to try to get Diageo to change its mind. The fact that she has been so vocal in her support shows the extent to which the people of Ayrshire—and, indeed, Scotland, to a large degree—have fallen in behind the campaign. She anticipates many of the arguments that I am about to make, so...

Petition — Flooding (Surrey): Diageo Closures (15 Jul 2009)

Des Browne: I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, and indeed for his support, to which I shall come back in a moment. The interventions reassure me that the argument that I am developing is the right one; it is being anticipated right, left and centre. It may well be anticipated further as the evening goes on. I was explaining that the situation is far from a one-way street, and that the...

Petition — Flooding (Surrey): Diageo Closures (15 Jul 2009)

Des Browne: I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention, as he has great knowledge of the industry. The Shieldhall bottling plant is in his constituency, and he will come to know Diageo very well as he continues to represent the area over the years. The mandate to carry out the work was accepted by Scottish Enterprise, but I can reassure the House that, at a meeting convened last night by John Swinney,...

Petition — Flooding (Surrey): Diageo Closures (15 Jul 2009)

Des Browne: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for speaking up for Glasgow, which he does regularly in this House. I am sure that the workers are pleased that they are not being forgotten in this debate. I hope that the campaign will continue and that they will have other opportunities to make their case. However, time is always short for these debates so I shall try to make progress with the argument that...

Petition — Flooding (Surrey): Diageo Closures (15 Jul 2009)

Des Browne: I thank my hon. Friend for his contribution, although he has spoiled the whole second half of my speech. His point is important, however, and those in what I have come to refer to as corporate whisky need to hear that the path between them and us has been well beaten when they have wanted our support for their industry throughout the world. We are never short of giving that support, but on...

Petition — Flooding (Surrey): Diageo Closures (15 Jul 2009)

Des Browne: A considerable number of Members wish to intervene, and I shall be happy to take those interventions, subject to leaving my right hon. Friend the Minister an opportunity to address the House at least for a few minutes, but I want first to make some progress. It cannot be the case that all those whom I have cited and who have fallen in behind the campaign are wrong about the argument, and that...

Petition — Flooding (Surrey): Diageo Closures (15 Jul 2009)

Des Browne: I could not have put it better myself. I was hoping to, of course, but I could not have. I want to pose some questions to my right hon. Friend the Minister, and I shall take one more intervention at an appropriate point. About 12 years ago, the local council, East Ayrshire council, Scottish Enterprise and the workers at Kilmarnock, supported by Donald Dewar and Brian Wilson, who were then in...

Petition — Flooding (Surrey): Diageo Closures (15 Jul 2009)

Des Browne: The hon. Gentleman has made an important point. I have spoken to the chief executive officer of Diageo, and I believe him to be a man of his word. He has given me his word that the company will listen to any alternative proposals during the consultation. I have to say that I was slightly concerned by the message that I was receiving, and the distillation of it, last Thursday, when I thought...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Elderly People (Long-term Care) (8 Jul 2009) has video

Des Browne: May I associate myself with the words of condolence for the brave and professional soldiers who have given their lives in Afghanistan over the past week, as well as those who so tragically lost their lives in that dreadful incident in my right hon. and learned Friend's constituency? Thousands of people in Scotland, along with civic society, the Churches, East Ayrshire council, the Scottish...

Oral Answers to Questions — Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Afghanistan (19 May 2009) has video

Des Browne: I think my hon. Friend will agree that the success of our strategy for Afghanistan is dependent on a credible election—credible to the people of Afghanistan, that is. Does he also agree that one simple thing we can do to ensure that they receive the message that we support credible elections in Afghanistan is repeatedly to say—and encourage the American Administration to...

Penicillin (11 May 2009)

Des Browne: It is 80 years and one day precisely since Alexander Fleming's research paper "On the antibacterial action of cultures of a Penicillium" was submitted for publication in The British Journal of Experimental Pathology. In the paper he wrote: "While working with staphylococcus variants a number of culture plates were set aside on the laboratory bench and examined from time to time. In the...

Opposition Day — [10th Allotted Day]: Sri Lanka (29 Apr 2009) has video

Des Browne: I think that everybody in this House feels the weight of the nature and scale of the suffering in Sri Lanka and believes that it has been endured for far too long. When making my contribution, I will observe the time constraints set down by the Chair. I heard what the hon. Member for Mid-Norfolk (Mr. Simpson) said, and I do not intend to repeat all the statistics that the hon. Member for...

Opposition Day — [10th Allotted Day]: Sri Lanka (29 Apr 2009) has video

Des Browne: If my hon. Friend will excuse me, I do not intend to use the whole of my 10 minutes and will therefore not take any interventions. All hon. Members know from our experience of debates, particularly on Northern Ireland, exactly what we need to do to create an inclusive peace process that has no preconditions attached to it, respects the rights and aspirations of all parties in a diverse...

Opposition Day — [10th Allotted Day]: Sri Lanka (29 Apr 2009) has video

Des Browne: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way, although, given that he invited the intervention, I suppose he needed to give way. I join other hon. Members in complimenting the hon. Gentleman on his introduction to the debate and on the fact that we are holding it. I hope to catch the Deputy Speaker's eye and make a short contribution later. The hon. Gentleman is right that I was in the...

British Heroes of the Holocaust (29 Apr 2009)

Des Browne: It is an honour to follow the hon. Member for New Forest, East (Dr. Lewis). Those of us who have listened to the last eight minutes of the debate will be glad that he chose to speak and did not decide that it would be inappropriate for him to do so, because it has been a privilege to listen to him. He was characteristically generous in commending all those who are not of his faith and ethnic...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Afghanistan and Pakistan (29 Apr 2009) has video

Des Browne: First, may I offer my personal condolences to the family, friends and comrades of the soldier in the 1st Battalion, the Welsh Guards, who gave his life this week in Afghanistan? My admiration for our troops on the ground in Afghanistan, and for the civilians who support them, knows no bounds. Over the time in which I had the privilege of visiting them regularly, I became very concerned as to...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Afghanistan and Pakistan (29 Apr 2009) has video

Des Browne: Thank you, Mr. Speaker; I apologise. At the shura that my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister attended, what did the tribal leaders tell him that the people they represent want? Did their requests fit with the grain of the strategy?

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Reserves (Review) (28 Apr 2009) has video

Des Browne: I thank my right hon. Friend for his statement, and may I ask him to pass on my personal thanks and appreciation to General Cottam and his team for a job that I am sure was extremely professionally and well done? I have not had the opportunity that the hon. Member for Woodspring (Dr. Fox) may have had to read the whole report; I have not seen it at all, but I shall study it carefully and I...

Business of the House: North Sea Helicopter Crash (2 Apr 2009) has video

Des Browne: I thank my right hon. Friend for the statement and apologise for not having been in my place to hear the beginning. I have had the advantage of reading a paper copy in the past few minutes. I thank my right hon. Friend for the opportunity to mark in the House the significance of yesterday's events. It is an awful tragedy. Mere words are never adequate in such circumstances to express what...