its not going to go away...
Mr. Martin O'Neill (Ochil): When my right hon. Friend is preparing his in-flight reading for the next couple of days, would he care to take with him the report on the Chinook crash? I hope that he will look, in particular, at paragraph 174, in which Lord Jauncey and his colleagues unanimously come to the conclusion that . ."the reviewing officers were not justified in finding that negligence on the part of the pilots caused the aircraft to crash."
I realise that the primary response to that will be from the Ministry of Defence, but will the Prime Minister accept that many of us, who have sympathy with the Department in a variety of ways, feel that the Gordian knot of self-interest that surrounds the Department on this issue must be cut through? We look to my right hon. Friend for a better, clearer and fairer understanding of a complex issue that has been dealt with by some of the most distinguished jurists in the other place. They have come up with a conclusion that drives a coach and horses through the views of the—
The Prime Minister: My hon. Friend is obviously right to say that this is a complex issue, although I hope that he would also acknowledge that those who conducted the original inquiry are wise and celebrated people as well, and experts in that particular area. Obviously, we have to study the report, and we shall do that. We shall study its complex technical detail and give a proper response in due course.
"I hope that he would also acknowledge that those who conducted the original inquiry are wise and celebrated people as well, and experts in that particular area"
in deciding what is effectively a point of law -more-so than a law lord, several QC's and a member of the RAes?
comparing the credibility and qualifications of Wrotten and Day with those of the HofL Select Committee is almost laughable.