Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Defence – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 21 February 2000.
Mr Nick Hawkins
Conservative, Surrey Heath
12:00,
21 February 2000
I am grateful for that confirmation. The Under-Secretary's officials may have briefed him that the local press in my Constituency has announced the decision as if it had been made. I hope that he will ensure that when his officials talk to officers, elected councillors and the press in my constituency, they provide accurate information at every stage.
The Under-Secretary knows that I asked his predecessor, the hon. Member for Liverpool, Walton (Mr. Kilfoyle), almost the last question of the last Defence Question Time. I do not know whether that question was the straw that broke the camel's back and led to his resignation in a blaze of publicity over the vacuum at the heart of Labour's policies. Perhaps the previous Under-Secretary felt some embarrassment about his officials' actions over the matter that we are considering.
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