Paul Waugh MP: speeches

Speeches

• 27 Nov 2025 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  This is a Budget that cuts the cost of living for families in Rochdale, boosts apprenticeships, and helps the NHS and our public services—public services that were brought to their knees by 14 years of not just Tory cuts, but coalition cuts. This is a Budget that balances the books, with fairness at its heart, and it is also a Labour Budget that puts children at its heart. I want to focus, in particular, on the historic decision to lift the Tory two- child cap, a policy that has punished so many children in Rochdale and across the land, for the crime of simply being born. As a journalist who worked up in the Press Gallery for 26 years, I reported on, reacted to and analysed Budgets over more than a quarter of a century. With any Budget, there is always talk of winners and losers, but when the two-child cap was introduced in 2016, the biggest losers were children. Think about that: children losing money because of the warped ideology that they were to blame for their parents’ poverty. I grew up on free school meals, so I know what it is like to be in a household where money is tight. Indeed, one of the reasons I stood for Parliament in the first place was to reverse the shocking rise in child poverty that occurred since 2010 under the last Tory Government, and particularly in Rochdale. The decision to scrap the two-child cap would not have been possible without a Labour Government, but neither would it have happened without the many community groups and anti-poverty campaigners in each of our constituencies. Earlier this year in Rochdale we held a roundtable meeting on the Government’s child poverty strategy. It was a heartening gathering, because we in Rochdale are proud of the many things we do locally for our kids, from never closing Sure Starts—which was tough for the local council—to providing free breakfast clubs way ahead of any national roll-out, and giving kids a free lunch if they go to Saturday school. However, our roundtable was also a sobering gathering, because despite everything we have done locally to combat poverty among toddlers and youngsters, many of the adults and campaigners there told us that the biggest problem was the national two-child cap, which has been a catastrophe for the incomes of many families on low pay or between jobs. I want to pay tribute to some of those campaigners and community workers in Rochdale: Jo Barker-Marsh, Aqub Nazir, Heather Madden and Nazrine Akhtar. Without their passion and commitment to helping our children, today would not have been possible. I was not surprised by the Leader of the Opposition’s rant about welfare yesterday. She repeated the Tory misinformation about the two-child cap, basing it on the myth that penalising larger families will somehow stop others from having a third or fourth child. As the Chancellor said yesterday, and as my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has made absolutely clear from the Dispatch Box today, there is no evidence that the two-child cap led to any change in family size. Why is that? It is because families have children for a whole host of reasons. Women certainly do not get pregnant to get more benefits. In fact, the real scandal in this country is that having children results in a substantial and long-lasting financial penalty for mothers, due to reduced earnings, unemployment and a lack of support. That is something this Government are addressing. ONS research found that five years after the birth of a first child, a mother’s monthly earnings were, on average, 42% lower than they were one year before the birth. The important point to stress is this: people move in and out of work for a whole host of reasons beyond their control. Many people have had their third or fourth child before they lost the job, became ill or were widowed, disabled or had to care for a sick relative or a disabled child. There is a wider point, too, which is that welfare has become a pejorative term. We need to talk more about social security, a safety net that is there for families who fall on hard times through illness, redundancy and no fault of their own. As has been said many times, more than six in 10 families on universal credit are in work. Many are on universal credit for only a few months until they can get back on their feet, or until their children are older, or they can sort proper childcare. No one in this party will defend the tiny minority who game the system, but the tabloid caricature of people lounging about on benefits is far removed from reality, particularly for parents. In the real world, many parents of kids in poverty go hungry themselves, rather than let their kids go without. Many cut back on essentials such as food and heating because they have to. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that the depth of hardship is particularly severe for families with three or more children, with around seven in 10 having to skip meals or go hungry.

• 27 Nov 2025 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  I have a lot of respect for the hon. Lady’s record in government and as the Chair of the Treasury Committee. She talks about tax rises. Does she accept that the bulk of the tax rises this Parliament—covering four of the five years—are Tory tax rises through the threshold freeze that she and her colleagues voted for?

• 27 Nov 2025 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  That is exactly what my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions set out at the Dispatch Box earlier, talking about the positive case for this move on child poverty. In Rochdale, we feel child poverty more keenly than anywhere. The statistics for my constituency after 14 years of Tory cuts are shocking. Relative poverty in Rochdale went up between 2014 and 2024 from 33% to 44.1%. That is one of the highest rates in the country. The Conservatives like to talk about relative poverty, but absolute poverty went up from 31% to 39%. The latest figures show that the total number of children in absolute poverty in Rochdale was 9,380 in 2024, but that 44% child poverty rate in Rochdale is just the average. The figures are even worse in individual areas such as Wardleworth, Kirkholt, Deeplish, Smallbridge, Firgrove and Freehold, where up to 60% of children live in absolute poverty. Those children were the collateral damage in a Tory attempt to get a political dividing line. How disgusting is that? The idea of the deserving and undeserving poor is as old as the Victorian workhouse. We should banish it to the dustbin of history, just as we are banishing the pernicious two-child cap to the dustbin of history. In Rochdale, more than 5,000 children will be lifted out of poverty by this Budget. That is 5,000 future nurses, plumbers, engineers, carers, teachers, entrepreneurs and soldiers who will now be given the best start in life that they need to achieve their dreams and fulfil their potential. The last Labour Government, which did so much to help children escape poverty, once had a new policy called Every Child Matters. By putting hundreds of pounds in the pockets of Rochdale families, this Budget shows that this Labour Government are restoring that moral mission as a national priority, sending out the message loud and clear that all kids count.

• 27 Nov 2025 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  The hon. Lady refers to the threshold freeze. Why did she vote for seven years of frozen thresholds?

• 26 Nov 2025 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  Will my right hon. Friend give way?

• 26 Nov 2025 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  Will the right hon. Member give way?

• 25 Nov 2025 · G20 and Ukraine · Hansard source

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  Last week in Rochdale, I joined our proud Ukrainian community to mark the Holodomor, which was Stalin’s forced famine of millions of Ukrainians in the 1930s. There is a modern-day Holodomor going on in Ukraine through the drone strikes and air strikes by Putin’s regime. Does the Prime Minister share my absolute disgust at the treacherous actions of the former leader of Reform in Wales, who lined his own pockets with cash from the Russian regime, and does he agree that Reform UK’s refusal to carry out a full investigation proves that they really are Putin’s poodles?

• 24 Nov 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Obligations · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Ms Butler. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Irene Campbell), and others, for setting out the context of the modern-day moral outrage that is the plight of the people of Gaza. Gaza may have disappeared from the headlines and TV screens, but the suffering continues for many, and neither I nor my constituents in Rochdale will allow the Palestinian people to be forgotten this winter, or any winter. Yes, the ceasefire brokered by the United States and others was undeniably welcome—finally, we are seeing the deceased and living hostages returned, prisoners released and the bombing abating—but, for more than two years, innocent Palestinians have endured the destruction of their homes, the tearing apart of their communities, and a relentless assault on their basic humanity and dignity. Now, as the winter rains fall upon their battered land, the misery deepens. As has been said, camps have become swamps; families who once had roofs over their heads now huddle in mud and fetid water, some of it sewage water; and more than a quarter of a million people are in desperate need of emergency tents and tarpaulins. The skies may be quieter and the airstrikes fewer, but the silent killers of disease and deprivation stalk the land of Palestine. I ask the Minister, what are the United Kingdom Government doing to ensure that those emergency shelters reach Palestinians without delay? How will the new Civil-Military Co-ordination Centre be used to compel Israel to open the floodgates to the aid that Gaza so desperately needs? As many have said, UNRWA has been clear that Gaza remains in a catastrophic state, despite the ceasefire. Israel continues to block international staff and to choke the entry of aid: 6,000 aid trucks stand idle at the crossings—6,000 trucks that could feed hungry mouths, clothe children, and bring medicine to the sick. Some 90% of Gaza’s population now survive entirely on aid and families scrape by on one meal a day but, still, just 170 trucks are allowed in, far below the minimum required for basic survival. As has been said, as well as the scandal of the lack of food, the children of Gaza suffer gravely from a lack of education. UNRWA struggles to provide schooling for 300,000 students remotely and 50,000 in person, under intolerable conditions. Some 44,000 Palestinian children sit in makeshift learning spaces, often on cold floors without chairs. Their sense of security—their very childhood —is being eroded every single day. When I visited the west bank earlier this year, one of the most shocking sights was the ruins of a Palestinian school building in Zanuta that had been attacked by Israeli settlers. The trashed primary school desks, the maps ripped off the walls, the wrecked life chances—they will remain with me and many other parliamentarians who attended for a very long time, and all with zero accountability for the perpetrators. Education lies in ruins. Satellite imagery shows that 93% of Gaza’s schools have been directly hit or damaged—that is 526 out of 564 buildings destroyed or requiring reconstruction. In north Gaza and Rafah, every single school building has been hit. What kind of army bombs schools?

• 24 Nov 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Obligations · Hansard source

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  I agree with my hon. Friend. There must be accountability for Israel’s actions—for its sins of omission as much as those of commission. Is the UK pushing for education to be a key part of the peace plan? As Members have said, it has been singularly missing so far. Nearly 200,000 people signed the e-petition that brought us here today, making it one of the largest petitions of this Parliament, as has been said. In Rochdale alone, 283 constituents added their name. This is not a fringe concern; it is a mainstream demand for justice.

• 24 Nov 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Obligations · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman. Yes, this is a grassroots, people-led campaign, as the petition shows. There has been progress in November: expanded food rations; a catch-up immunisation campaign that vaccinated 13,000 children; the distribution of high-performance tents to learning spaces, at least in Khan Yunis; bread prices that are beginning to fall thanks to the World Food Programme; and households reporting two meals a day instead of one. But that is not enough—nowhere near enough. The challenges remain immense. Heavy rains have affected 13,000 households directly; hundreds of tents have collapsed; fuel shortages mean that half the population still burns waste to cook; infrastructure lies in ruins; and aid convoys are always blocked at Rafah, where they should not be, denied at Kerem Shalom and turned away at hospitals in the north. UNRWA has food parcels for 1.1 million people, flour for 2.1 million and shelter supplies for 1.3 million pre-positioned outside Gaza, but Israel refuses to let it in. I say again that for too many Palestinians, the ceasefire is a fiction. Between 12 and 19 November, the most recent data available, eight Palestinians were killed and 41 injured, with 18 bodies pulled from the rubble. As we all know, the toll since 7 October 2023 now stands at 69,513 dead and 170,745 injured. Even after the ceasefire, 280 people have been killed and 672 injured, and 571 bodies retrieved. What kind of ceasefire is this when the killing continues? Let us not forget that many ordinary Israelis want peace. Many Israeli human rights groups, civil society organisations such as B’Tselem, and others, are being targeted by Netanyahu’s Government. They know that, without full rights for Palestinians and full statehood, there will never be genuine security for them or other Israelis. This is not just a humanitarian crisis; it is a moral crisis. It is a test of our values as a nation. We must have urgent action to open all the crossings, lift the restrictions and flood Gaza with aid at long last. We must keep up progress for a two-state solution, with peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians side by side. Speaking of a two-state solution, it was particularly sickening this month to see the Israeli Minister Ben-Gvir taunting in prison the one man who many Palestinians see as the Mandela of the middle east: Marwan Barghouti. I had the privilege of meeting his son when I was in Jerusalem earlier this year. Does the Minister agree that Marwan Barghouti has a key role to play in a lasting peace for the region? The Government have rightly recognised that the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains desperate. As the Middle East Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Lincoln (Mr Falconer), has confirmed, in the financial year 2025-26, the UK will provide more than £100 million for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, prioritising humanitarian relief, economic development and strengthening the Palestinian Authority. Those are important commitments, but commitments must be backed by delivery. The people of Gaza cry out for shelter, food, education and dignity. The petitioners cry out for action, and history will cry out for accountability. The Labour Government have made an historic step in recognising the state of Palestine—something no other British Government have done before. We need similarly bold moves on aid. Let us ensure that Britain is remembered for solidarity and political courage. Let us press Israel to open all crossings, demand the entry of aid, support UNRWA in its vital work and, above all, work for a genuine ceasefire that stops the killing, allows rebuilding and restores hope for a two-state solution. Without hope and real justice, there can be no lasting peace in the middle east.

• 20 Nov 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Last week saw a big day for Rochdale and for Greater Manchester, as building works began on a world-leading research centre—the Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing Centre in Kingsway Business Park, which is backed by £15 million of this Government’s money. Does the Leader of the House agree that that proves the Government’s industrial strategy can boost the jobs and apprenticeships of the future to help towns such as mine that have a proud manufacturing past and present?

• 20 Nov 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Apologies for jumping the gun earlier, Mr Speaker. We need to crack down on drug drivers. Leon Clarke from Rochdale crashed his car and killed his eight-year-old son while driving under the influence of cocaine. Does the Minister agree that we need to change the law on roadside drug tests to stamp out this rising menace on our roads?

• 20 Nov 2025 · Practical Driving Tests · Hansard source

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  I warmly welcome the tough action taken by this Government to cut the backlog in driving tests, but one thing that will help drivers more than anything, and help pedestrians too, is a crackdown on drug drivers such as Leon Clarke, who crashed his car and killed his eight-year-old son while driving under the influence of cocaine. Does the Minister agree that we need to change the law on roadside drug tests to stamp out this rising menace?

• 18 Nov 2025 · Gaza and Sudan · Hansard source

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  I welcome the leading role that the UK has played at the United Nations, both in trying to corral international action on the slaughter and sexual violence in Sudan, and on the international leadership we have shown in recognising the state of Palestine—an historic recognition, as the Foreign Secretary has acknowledged. I thank her for her personal commitment and action in getting sick and injured Palestinian children to British hospitals. Given the NHS’s expertise, can she tell us what more the UK can do to rebuild healthcare in Gaza itself?

• 13 Nov 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Minky Homecare’s ironing board factory in Shawclough, in Rochdale, is the only one of its kind in the whole country. It provides high-quality British-made products and lots of vital local jobs. Does the Leader of the House agree with me that making, selling and buying British products is this Government’s priority, as we support our manufacturers across the country?

• 12 Nov 2025 · Energy · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend references Scotland. I was at COP26 in Glasgow the last time we had a Conservative Prime Minister who showed real climate leadership on the global stage, yet we have now seen the sad spectacle—and we will see more of it later today—of a party that had a distinguished tradition of environmental protection and climate change reality running away to the Reform vote, which is an empty one. Does the Minister agree with the former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, who said: “Certainly in my party, it’s all about bashing the green agenda, and personally I don’t think we’ll get elected on that. I didn’t see us soaring in the polls as a result of saying what rubbish net zero is. I didn’t see a massive leap in support for the Conservatives”?

• 11 Nov 2025 · BBC Leadership · Hansard source

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  As a former journalist and former member of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, I know more than most some of the failings of the BBC, but I also recognise some of its great strengths, not least in combating misinformation online. I know many of its journalists personally and many, many of them take ultra seriously their duties to provide fair, impartial and, yes, fearless news coverage. It is the fearlessness that often upsets this House, on either side. Yes, this was a serious error by the “Panorama” team and a correction should have been issued swiftly, but that does not mean that the BBC as an institution should be undermined. There are enemies on the left and the right who want to see the demise of the BBC, and they would rue that day should it ever happen.

• 11 Nov 2025 · Prisoner Releases in Error · Hansard source

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  I put on record my thanks to all the prison officer staff at Buckley Hall prison in Rochdale, who have held the line in the face of impossible cuts and challenges over the past 14 years under the previous Government. It is hard to imagine the sheer distress that is caused to victims and their families whenever there is a release in error of any prisoner, as happened, as has been said, 800 times under the last Government without a single apology, a single independent inquiry or a single photo or name, as has been demanded by the shadow Justice Secretary. Does the Secretary of State agree that victims and their families should be put at the heart of our reforms when we try to make sure that that never happens again?

• 3 Nov 2025 · Public Office (Accountability) Bill · Hansard source

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  This legislation is all about a fundamental rebalancing of power between the state and the citizens it is meant to protect and serve. We have heard powerfully today from many Members about the Hillsborough families and their enduring quest for the truth. Briefly, I would like to add the nuclear test veterans to that list of campaigners for justice, including my constituent, 88-year-old John Morris. When John was stationed on Christmas Island in 1956, he was told that British troops were building a new runway. In reality, they were testing nuclear weapons, but the weapons that were intended to keep Britain safe from the Soviet threat were far from safe for the men who were out in the south Pacific—they were effectively treated like lab rats, with little or no protection from harm. John is one of 22,000 British troops who were exposed to radiation while on service in the 1950s, and who have campaigned for years about the cancers and other side effects they endured. John’s son Steven died at just four months old from birth defects. For 50 years, John and his wife faced repeated indignities. They were wrongfully questioned on suspicion of having murdered their son, denied information about how and why their son died, and denied John’s own medical records. Finally, a coroner’s report suggesting that Steven’s lungs might not have formed properly was revealed. John himself has had cancer, and has had a blood disorder since he was 26 years old. He sent me a message today: “Great news about the Hillsborough law…for us vets, it’s very positive”, because it will “make our lives much easier” in getting the answers they demand. He is pleased that in September, the Prime Minister agreed to meet him to discuss the issue further, and he is looking forward to that meeting. There is another Rochdale resident whose campaign will, I hope, also benefit from this new legislation: 83-year-old Sylvia Mountain, who used the pregnancy test drug Primodos, which has already been mentioned by some of my hon. Friends. She gave birth to her son Philip in 1963, but Philip died of birth defects just 22 days after he was born. Today is the anniversary of the day her baby died, 62 years ago. Sylvia was told by doctors at the time to stop being “hysterical”, and has been told that no medical records exist to explain her son’s death, but many other women who were prescribed Primodos suffered similar birth defects in their children, as well as stillbirths and miscarriages. Victims of the Primodos test are still waiting for answers. For more than half a century, these families have faced a culture of concealment—of suppressed evidence, misleading official conclusions, and denial of responsibility. John and Sylvia—two Rochdale pensioners in their 80s, whose lives have been overshadowed by tragedy and loss in ways that are very different, but also very similar—personify the decades of injustice that this legislation is intended to prevent from ever happening again. I pay tribute to both of them for their resilience in the face of unspeakable tragedy and suffering, and am proud to have them as my constituents. John and Sylvia want the state to recognise its responsibilities before it is too late for them and others like them. It is in their name, and that of all the other victims of state power and cover-ups, that I welcome this landmark Hillsborough Bill today, a Bill that it has taken this Labour Government to make a reality.

• 28 Oct 2025 · China Spying Case · Hansard source

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  That is a matter for Ministers to decide; I am not privy to all the information that would be required to make that determination. It is vital for our own national security and is in our national interests that we maintain a similar consensus as we have on Ukraine on the threats, challenges and opportunities posed by China. We should all stand firm in this House on issues of national security and human rights and on the threats China poses clearly to our economy, our industrial secrets, our intellectual property, our democracy and, yes, our cyber-space. We should also recognise that it is important that the UK engages with China where it is in our hard-headed national interest—and mutual interest—to do so, from climate change to global health and trade. That is why the Opposition in government had a policy of protect, align and engage—there is that word “engage” again. How different is that really from our own compete, challenge and co-operate? I know that this place often thrives on political knockabout, with parties trying to seize on opponents’ perceived weakness, but in accusing one’s political opponents of somehow being enemies of the people and plotting non-existent cover-ups, the only beneficiaries are our real enemies abroad.

• 28 Oct 2025 · China Spying Case · Hansard source

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  First, I want to put on the record my anger and frustration, shared by many in this House, at the collapse of this case, particularly the dropping of the spying charges against Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry and the resulting collapse of their trial, which had been due to go ahead this very month. Secondly, I welcome Mr Speaker’s guidance on how to improve Members’ security. Members must not forget that we have a personal responsibility too to protect ourselves, our fellow Members and our staff from such foreign interference, which includes in our hiring practices and vetting of staff who can work in this building, which has not been often mentioned in this debate. However, I want mainly to warn of the danger of some of the rhetoric that has been used to date in this case. Of course, it is the job of His Majesty’s Opposition to probe, challenge and scrutinise the Government, yet what has happened in this case goes way beyond that and risks harming us all, just as spying on our Parliament harms us all. I am talking about the repeated unsubstantiated and scurrilous suggestions that any Minister or special adviser in this Government interfered or intervened in the independent decision making of the CPS. In an article in The Times on 15 October, the shadow Home Secretary, the right hon. Member for Croydon South (Chris Philp), accused the Government of deliberately choosing to collapse the case: “It is clear the government chose to deliberately submit inadequate evidence that led to two alleged spies getting off scot-free.” He went on: “They must now also explain who was guiding Matt Collins in preparing this evidence.” That is an appalling accusation to make with zero evidence and an insult to the professional integrity of the deputy National Security Adviser, and I hope the shadow Home Secretary withdraws it. Sadly, he was not alone. On 13 October, the Leader of the Opposition told the BBC: “This looks like a deliberate decision to collapse the case and curry favour with the regime in China.” She went on to say that she suspected that Ministers “have decided that closer economic ties with China were more important than due process and our national security.” Just look at those words: “looks like” and “suspect”. There is not a shred of evidence, only insinuation. That is not the language of a Prime Minister in waiting. As the Security Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley North (Dan Jarvis), has made clear, it was an entirely independent decision by the CPS to discontinue the case, and the CPS has confirmed that it came under no outside pressure to do so. As for the Whitehall meeting on 1 September referenced by the Opposition in their motion, crucially, Mr Collins said yesterday that there had been “at least four lawyers in the room who ensured that there was no discussion about the evidence” in the case. This House has maintained a proud cross-party consensus on Ukraine, helping President Zelensky to stand up to Putin—a consensus that is, sadly, not helped at times by Reform, whose Putin apologists are indeed Moscow’s useful idiots of the 21st century. We need to maintain a similar cross-party consensus in fighting against Chinese threats.

• 27 Oct 2025 · Prisoner Release Checks · Hansard source

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  Hadush Kebatu is clearly a depraved individual and a dangerous pervert who should be booted out of the country without delay. But my constituents are sick and tired of having to foot the bill for the cost of housing foreign national offenders in British jails. Will the Home Secretary therefore reassure them that the Sentencing Bill will make it much easier to deport those individuals and ensure that they are in foreign jails where they belong, rather than clogging up our prisons?

• 21 Oct 2025 · Co-operative Sector: Government Support · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend kindly mentioned Rochdale and its proud history in 1844 of the Rochdale pioneers founding this global movement for social justice. It is still a movement that is alive and kicking today. It is not a relic, as is evidenced by the Metro Moneywise credit union, which celebrated its 35th anniversary last week in a town hall ceremony in Rochdale at which I was pleased to be present. Does my hon. Friend agree that the most important point is that the Labour party has agreed to double the size of the co-operative economy, and that the whole of Government needs to get stuck in to achieve that—not just the Treasury, and not just the brilliant new unit in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the co-operative development unit, but every part of Government?

• 21 Oct 2025 · Co-operative Sector: Government Support · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend may not be aware that four of the original 28 Rochdale pioneers were warpers and weavers from Spotland Bridge, which is where I grew up. That makes me incredibly proud of the sense of working-class ingenuity and self-help that lives on today. Directly to my hon. Friend’s point, does he not think that the most important statistic about co-ops is that co-operative start-ups are twice as likely to survive beyond the first five years as any other start up?

• 21 Oct 2025 · Rape Gangs: National Statutory Inquiry · Hansard source

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  I know that the Minister will not want to comment on individual candidates to chair the national grooming inquiry. However, may I put on record that Jim Gamble is a highly regarded police officer with a long experience of dealing with this matter? His leadership of the child exploitation and online protection centre proved what a fearless and fiercely independent figure he was, with a real track record of tracking down sick paedophiles online and off. Does the Minister agree that the chair of the inquiry must be someone who can earn the trust of those who have been let down by those in positions of authority for far too long? Will she confirm—I hope that she will—that the inquiry will not shy away from issues of race or class and will follow the evidence wherever it leads?