Iraq: Future Strategic Relationship

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for allowing me to intervene. He has raised some important questions, and it might be helpful if I briefly seek to answer them while I am here. In relation to the agreement, we have obviously acted in accordance with the clear advice that we received from the Chief of the Defence Staff and the service chiefs that the agreement was acceptable. There are differences between the UK and US agreements, which largely concern the different roles and missions of the UK and US forces. On the hon. Gentleman's point about the Royal Navy, let me reassure him that, while Royal Navy personnel are serving on board Royal Navy vessels and ships in the Gulf, those vessels and ships come under the definition of being a UK facility or base, and the personnel on them are not subject to any extent to Iraqi criminal jurisdiction.