Emily Thornberry

Emily Thornberry

Labour — Islington South and Finsbury

Speaking in the House of Commons on 4 February 2026

Debate

Lord Mandelson

Contribution

I thank the hon. Gentleman. Yes, I have read the letter—I am afraid I did not have it at my fingertips—but I think it is important to put all this information before the House. The next question is, what does “vetting” mean? I appreciate that there are other processes that we cannot go into here, and it would not be appropriate to do so, but I hope it will be of help to the House to share another answer from the Foreign Affairs Committee session. In question 269, I said: “The foundation of it seems to be that they have a form to fill in, you take it in good faith that they are filling that in correctly, and then you check what it is that they have said, so if they have omitted anything, no one is looking outside what is on the form.” Sir Oliver Robbins then said: “That is broadly correct, yes.” That is vetting.

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