12/10/2022 | 12:05:19 Sometimes, Mister President, I have been critical of this Assembly because I think it has concentrated on minor issues, particularly in Western Europe. May I say that this report is an excellent report produced by my colleague Mr John HOWELL and his co-rapporteur. It is absolutely forensic in its criticism and it seems to me that this is a sort of issue that the Council of Europe has got to concentrate on. Here is a founder member of the Council of Europe and yet there is absolutely no doubt... 11/10/2022 | 11:23:28 It's an honour, Madam President, to follow the last speaker from Kosovo, and we welcome us to this Assembly of the free nations of Europe. Because, dear colleagues, make no mistake: we are now engaged in an existential battle in the world. On one hand, we have the freeman nations of the West, led by the United States of America, and let us have no criticism of that great republic, countries of the European Union, countries like my own, Great Britain. On the other hand, we have authoritarian... 22/06/2022 | 11:44:38 Can you hear me? Thank you very much for calling me in this debate. It's a great honour to speak in this debate, because the scourge of antisemitism is something that disfigures and has disfigured large parts of Europe and European history. I'm pleased to say that the only country I can speak of with any real knowledge, the United Kingdom, has enjoyed, over the last century, extremely good relations with our Jewish community. There was a large Jewish community in the United Kingdom at the end... 27/04/2022 | 20:23:17 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) Today I have the great honour of having been officially sanctioned by the Russian government for opposing Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified attack against Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Ministry has accused me and 286 other British MPs of the “groundless whipping-up of Russophobic hysteria” aimed at “demonizing” Russia. Nothing could be further from the truth. At all times we have sought dialogue with Russia and encouraged Western... 26/01/2021 | 18:59:37 A lot of good work. And I just want that's what some people think of it [inaudible] [DAEMS: Could you go to floor please because you have double sound. You have to go to floor down left on your screen] Okay. [DAEMS: Thank you, you've got the floor. Three minutes.] Okay, can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? I just wanted to thank all those who have spoken and to say that this is clearly compromised but I think we set the bar for expulsion high in terms of the national delegation and in... 26/01/2021 | 18:07:34 Thank you very much, dear colleagues. By introducing some modifications of a technical nature into the rules of procedure, my report concludes the work the Assembly started three years ago. In the report prepared by our colleague Mr KOX on behalf of the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy, we went through the numerous stages of drafting and the consultation process, given the importance of the procedure and the number of actors involved in the preparatory stage. Through this three... 29/01/2020 | 10:27:19 On behalf of the European Conservatives Group, I would like to say that we support this report and we believe in the concept of reasonable accommodation. In reply to the Socialist spokesman, reasonable accommodation does not mean that you take away the rights of other people. Let me just give you one example in a hospital, for instance. If you wish to require or have an abortion in a hospital, under the law of most countries in the world, you are entitled to receive that service. What we... 28/01/2020 | 11:41:47 Respect for democracy and the rule of law are of course fundamental to the Council of Europe. I believe that this report actually undermines the Council's ideals. I believe it fails to protect the pluralism that makes our continent so rich in its diversity. In both tone and content it seeks to replace pluralism by enforcing conformism with social liberal ideas. Now with the limited time I want to highlight just one example from this report. Paragraph 22 notes the results of the election for... 01/10/2019 | 10:56:53 Madame President. Of course, we all agree and applaud paragraph 3 of this report, which tells us that disclosing serious failings in the public interest must not remain the preserve of those citizens who are prepared to sacrifice their personal lives and those of their relatives, as too often happened in the past. And indeed, there are still instances in Europe and in this family of nations, where whistle-blowers who expose corruption and wrong dealing in the highest places are protected, but... 26/06/2019 | 18:30:48 The British Conservatives have warm feelings towards Malta. Many British people visit Malta. Malta is a member of the Commonwealth. Malta played a crucial role in the Second World War, and we hesitate to criticise Malta in any respect, where we have many friends. So this is a difficult report for us, but we must speak out where journalists are openly murdered and nothing happens. In the early second century AD, the Roman poet, Juvenal, asks a question:"quiz custodiet ipsos custodes?" - "who...