In a shock move, Conservative MP for the Wrekin, Mark Pritchard, leapt to Keir Starmer's defence in the Commons on Thursday - admitting it might cost him the Parliamentary whip.
00:00Thank you Mr. Speaker. Whilst we may disagree on the detail, can I agree with the Prime Minister that as far as possible in this place, it would be better to keep partisan politics out of national security issues.
00:13And who knows, I may get the wit we're drawn for saying that, but so be it. There are things that go beyond party politics.
00:19So can I thank the Prime Minister for all his hard work in the national security interests of this country.
00:24When it comes to the G7, he mentioned sanctions and he in his statement said, I urge the United States to do more on sanctions.
00:34Is he aware that the United States is actually urging the United Kingdom to do more on sanctions when it comes to Russia?
00:40So can the Magnitsky legislation be widened and deepened so it captures more Russian assets and also possibly other countries that may have sanctions imposed upon them soon, for example Georgia.
00:51On NATO, Joint Expeditionary Force, which was mentioned in the summit, he will know, having attended the Norway meeting some weeks ago, that the Ukraine is a Jeff Partnership nation.
01:05Could he tell the House if the UK supports Ukraine becoming a full member of the Joint Expeditionary Force and if so, when that might happen?
01:12Well, I thank him for his questions, but they're all good questions, so I'll endeavour to answer each part of them.
01:21In relation to sanctions, which is being discussed intensely, as he will understand, there are two elements to that really.
01:28The first is the immediate application of sanctions in relation to Russia, where we are attempting to make sure that we all act together.
01:37So the US, the UK and the EU together, and that is the focus of our discussions and what we're urging on the US.
01:46He will know there's a piece of legislation in the US which is ready to go and needs to be coordinated with what we're doing.
01:54On the longer term, I think we need to look always at whether there's more we can do within the framework on sanctions, and we can discuss that in this House.
02:01On the important point he makes about Ukraine and Jeff, we've been a leading advocate of Ukraine having a bigger role, or having a role in Jeff.
02:12And Ukraine already has enhanced partnership with the Jeff, and that's the first of its kind.
02:19That was at the last Jeff meeting that we had in Norway just a few weeks and months ago.
02:24So we were one of the leading nations pushing for that greater involvement.
02:29We'll see over time whether that can be taken further, either with Jeff or with NATO, obviously.
02:35But it was an important first step, and not only a reflection for Ukraine, but also a message to Russia.
