Did you mean good speaker:Richard Drax?
Richard Drax: ...do not have any predators in today’s world. We do not want to wipe them out; we simply want them controlled. It is pure common sense. As I understand it, were the Opposition to win the election—God forbid—they would stop the badger cull. I am interested in whether that is true; perhaps the shadow Minister can tell us. The British farmer is without doubt the best in the world. I ask...
Richard Drax: ...resources to cope with this. The Minister is putting a potential landmine into a highly restricted port, where young men will be trapped in a barge for many hours a day, with a few being let off God knows where. Where are they going to go, Minister? What are they going to do? What happens if they do not come back—a telephone call? I hardly think that that is going to work. It is just...
Richard Drax: ...for every single penny they can get. However, as has been said, and I must agree, £5 billion is not sufficient to ensure that our core armed forces are properly equipped and prepared for—God forbid—something we all dread, as the world potentially totters towards world war three. What on earth is going through the minds of Treasury officials?
Richard Drax: ...her parting reminds us all to hold dear to those we love, and to keep saying that we love them. On behalf of my constituents, my family and my friends, I say: “Rest in peace, Your Majesty.” God save the King.
Richard Drax: I am going to follow up that question, I am afraid. NATO does outnumber Russia, it is true, but we have to have the weight, muscle and mass, to a certain extent, to react in the event, God forbid, of some form of confrontation with Russia. I ask my hon. Friend the Minister and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to reverse the very bad decision to reduce the Army by 10,000.
Richard Drax: ...’s history for 96 years. I was so moved that I wrote to her simply to say thank you for a life of sacrifice and duty, and a glorious reign that history will record for future generations to come. God bless the Queen.
Richard Drax: ...are at combined operations, so that is a false comparison. I am told that mass is no longer necessary, but an Army of 82,000 is not massive and, for sustained operations against a peer adversary—God forbid what we may face in future—numbers will count in any future conflict. I return to the Government’s direction of travel. Their adviser has said that it is time to “scrape the...
Richard Drax: ...we must gear up too. The best way to deter war is to prepare for one. While there are plans to modernise our armed forces, it will take too long to equip fully our men and women in the event that, God forbid, we face a war with Russia. Let us not beat about the bush: the west stands on a perilous cliff edge. As one of my colleagues said, the world order has changed, certainly for many...
Richard Drax: ..., the policy changes. I do not excuse myself for again asking the Government to rethink the cut to the Army. He was referring to out of area-type operations, and we are now looking potentially, God forbid, at a conventional war, where mass will be important. We no longer have that mass and it must be retained.
Richard Drax: ...the battalions have been hollowed out to save cap badges, because it would be politically embarrassing if we again saw regiments amalgamating or disappearing. This would be quite unacceptable if, God forbid, the Russian bear puts a foot into a NATO country and our young men and women are sent to fight in perhaps not a world war but certainly a huge war in Europe. A full, properly manned...
Richard Drax: ..., because their operations have been delayed again? [Hon. Members: “No!”] No is the answer. Do we want to see the hospitality and retail sectors collapse because we keep instilling the fear of God into their customers? [Hon. Members: “No!”] No is the answer. Do we want to go on spending taxpayers’ money on this eye-watering and unaffordable scale? [Hon. Members: “No!”] No is...
Richard Drax: ...Our sympathies extend to the Queen and the royal family for their loss. The Duke’s legacy will live on for countless years. He was the Queen’s rock for 73 years, but he was the nation’s, too. God bless her, and rest in peace.
Richard Drax: ...who, sadly, have passed away. I know for certain that were they alive now, they would say, “Richard, get out there. Get the country going again. Protect those like us as best as you can, but for God’s sake get the country back on its feet.”
Richard Drax: ...If I recall correctly, as the boats broke through the mist, the Army colonel turned to Kenneth Branagh and said, “What’s that?” Kenneth Branagh turned to him and said, “That’s home.” My God, that hit me! The point I am making is that we were absolutely alone, facing invasion by the Germans, followed by possible submission and all the horrors that would have followed. For those...
Richard Drax: ...be failing if I did not mention the money spent on our armed forces in difficult times such as this. I ask her, please, to consider spending more money on our defences so that we are ready if, God forbid, they are needed more in the future.
Richard Drax: ...that. Let’s roll out that; let’s not roll out that.” It is a bit disjointed. This initiative is proving to be good and effective, and is cutting reoffending and giving young men a chance. God forbid, the alternative is years more in jail, which costs us about £40,000 a year for the rest of their lives. That is a fee that none of us wants to pay out of our taxes. This initiative...
Richard Drax: ...claim. The way they are going to vote is a smokescreen; it is a politically cynical move to destabilise this Government—that is all it is. It is an opportunity for the Leader of the Opposition, God forbid, to become Prime Minister of this country. What we are doing here is repatriating thousands of regulations into our jurisdiction, thousands of which have been imposed on us over the...
Richard Drax: ...to do that. I cannot understand those who ask about workers’ rights. We live in one of the oldest and proudest democracies in the world. If we cannot decide what rights workers should have, then God help us. Why do we need tens of thousands of bureaucrats to tell us how to run our country? We do not need them. I fear that the vitality of this great country of ours has somehow been sucked...
Richard Drax: ...is fine in mainly urban areas, because there are more brownfield sites and areas to encourage businesses, but in seats like mine that are surrounded by every environmental designation from here to God knows where it is going to be far harder to raise this additional money, which of course local authorities desperately need.
Richard Drax: ...to defame anyone for being on the left, right or centre, but it seems to me that the socialist-leaning parties want the EU to survive because it is a bureaucracy. Bureaucrats run it and are paid God knows how much money, with pensions, huge offices and secretaries—the cost is astronomical—and they are unaccountable.