Results 1–20 of 1062 for speaker:Michael Mates

Intelligence and Security Committee (18 Mar 2010)

Michael Mates: We must make sure that we get this point right. As my hon. Friend says, neither the ISC nor the Government got to the truth about Diego Garcia initially. Both we and the Government asked questions of the United States Government, who are in control there. They who gave us a flat and definitive answer-they were not in any doubt-which we therefore accepted. If my hon. Friend is telling me that...

Intelligence and Security Committee (18 Mar 2010)

Michael Mates: I am sorry, but I hope the hon. Gentleman was not trying to put words in my mouth. I would never have used the phrase "stark staring bonkers" in his context. All I would say is that he has been absolutely consistent in his arguments-despite all the facts that we have. That is my criticism of him. If we were able to construct a Select Committee, would we not advocate it, given the grief that...

Intelligence and Security Committee (18 Mar 2010)

Michael Mates: The answer is that the matter was decided in the courts. The court came to a judgment, the person concerned received the appropriate punishment and Sir David put it down to what it clearly was: human error. Perhaps the hon. Gentleman, who laughs, will tell me how we will get human error out of the system. We will not.

Intelligence and Security Committee (18 Mar 2010)

Michael Mates: Perhaps the hon. Gentleman will listen a little more carefully when I repeat what I said. I did not criticise Lord Neuberger's remarks; I criticised the effect that his remarks would have. He said "I have in mind in particular witness B". Witness B is a person who has not yet been charged with anything, and who is under investigation by the police and the Attorney-General. No one has heard...

Intelligence and Security Committee (18 Mar 2010)

Michael Mates: It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Knowsley, North and Sefton, East (Mr. Howarth), with whom I have been happy to serve on the Committee for the past five years. As has been said, I have been on the Committee since it was formed in 1994-16 long years-and I am very proud indeed to have been able to contribute to it over that time. I have enjoyed it and found it stimulating,...

Intelligence and Security Committee (18 Mar 2010)

Michael Mates: My right hon. and learned Friend is absolutely right. I have simply said that there is a dilemma, and I shall come to that dilemma later in my remarks. Before that, I shall address the other fundamental problem, which is that we are sponsored by the Cabinet Office, which provides our staff on secondment from other Departments. This arrangement was fine in 1994, when we started, but since then...

Intelligence and Security Committee (18 Mar 2010)

Michael Mates: The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. The conclusion will not be affected, unless of course the Government choose to change the draft guidance, and if they do, our successors-it will be them now, alas-might well want to come to different conclusions. It is a mess, and it is a pity-and, I have to say to the Government, it was also absolutely unnecessary to go to these lengths to put...

Intelligence and Security Committee (18 Mar 2010)

Michael Mates: But if that judge is not independent, which judge is? If we are to put the matter in the hands of a judge to make a decision, we have to accept, whoever they are, that they are going to be independent. That judge is ready and willing, but he has not yet been asked.

Intelligence and Security Committee (18 Mar 2010)

Michael Mates: Yes, but that does not take away from the point that if an individual says that he was mistreated by the intelligence and security services, that is a matter not for our Committee but for the tribunal. The tribunal is ready and waiting, and anyone out there who thinks that they have a complaint can put it to the tribunal. The Committee looked at the detail of the allegations raised by Mr....

Intelligence and Security Committee (18 Mar 2010)

Michael Mates: I mean that it is in the report that has not been published. It is not lost, but it has got lost in the wash. It will come out when the report comes out, but it is a pity that we do not have it today, because we could have had a more informed debate about all this. There have been recent allegations that the Security Service has been complicit in torture. The allegations are not that MI5...

Intelligence and Security Committee (18 Mar 2010)

Michael Mates: I am indeed aware of that, Mr. Deputy Speaker. However, I am not talking about the case; I am simply talking about the judgment made about the release of information. I have come to the end of my speech, but Lord Neuberger has alleged that witness B has "a dubious record" and has lacked "frankness", which is a strange way of keeping people's minds open in the outside world, as a case...

Intelligence and Security Committee (18 Mar 2010)

Michael Mates: The right hon. Gentleman made a very important point about redactions and the frustrations that exist, and it is worth repeating-I have said it before in this place-that the Committee has the final say on redactions. The statute allows the Prime Minister to seek to redact anything that might affect national security, and only that, but the Committee has to agree. If the Committee were not to...

Intelligence and Security Committee (18 Mar 2010)

Michael Mates: rose-

Intelligence and Security Committee (18 Mar 2010)

Michael Mates: rose-

Intelligence and Security Committee (18 Mar 2010)

Michael Mates: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way. The Committee did look at the matter; it looked at all the documents; it looked at the secret signals that were sent on this subject; and it was roundly critical of the United States authorities, because they broke an undertaking, which appears on the bottom of such secret reports, not to divulge them to anyone else. That criticism was as...

Intelligence and Security Committee (18 Mar 2010)

Michael Mates: I noticed the Foreign Secretary wincing slightly when my right hon. Friend said that the delay was due to incompetence. Why does not he ask the Foreign Secretary why the guidance was delayed at the last minute?

Intelligence and Security Committee (18 Mar 2010)

Michael Mates: rose-

Intelligence and Security Committee (18 Mar 2010)

Michael Mates: The House would benefit from a little more openness about what the problem is. There were eight months between the Prime Minister's statement and the Committee receiving the guidance. There were a number of good reasons for that: it is very complex, and it had to go round the Law Officers and all the other Departments. We then got stuck into it, took evidence, and published to the Prime...

Intelligence and Security Committee (18 Mar 2010)

Michael Mates: rose-

Intelligence and Security Committee (18 Mar 2010)

Michael Mates: The Foreign Secretary is praising the Government for having given us an investigator-we will gloss over the fact that it took about seven or eight months to get him on parade. However, what does he think of the fact that the Committee asked the Cabinet Office to let the investigator, in the interregnum between this Committee and the next, pursue two totally uncontroversial items-developed...


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