On 9 June 1993, the National Audit Office confirmed that the Minstry of Defence police are investigating a massive fraud involving shipowners and agents during the Gulf War Crisis; an issue that we raised in 1991, for which we were ridiculed.

I recall that on one occasion in the middle of the Gulf War Crisis the Leader of the House, a Frenchman from Normandy--whose people are renowned for their prudence and sagacity--rose to address the European Parliament with Gallic gravitas.

My Lords, as someone who spent the last 12 months in government service immersed in the Gulf War Crisis, I have had, in the past few months, an enormous sense of deja vu.