Dr Julian Lewis rose –

Daniel Kawczynski:  I give way to the Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee.

Dr Lewis:  I wonder what reasons Germany has given, at least publicly, for its behaviour, given the overwhelming case against Nord Stream 2 outlined by my hon. Friend. I cannot help being put in mind of that famous quotation, which may or may not have correctly been attributed to Lenin, that the west and the capitalists

“will sell us the rope with which we will hang them.”

Daniel Kawczynski:  I could not have put the situation better. Germany, in a rather peculiar statement the other day, did not really explain why it is building this pipeline. Clearly, it is a stitch-up between the Russians and the Germans. They do not want to rely on the transportation of gas through Belarus, Ukraine or Poland – countries that the Russians have problems with. Russia does not want to rely on exporting its main commodity through those countries; it wants to have a direct link under the sea, so that Germany, irrespective of its obligations to NATO, can have that direct access to Russian gas.

[...]

Daniel Kawczynski: ... We need a statement from the British Government that we will implement sanctions on every company and individual involved in this project and it must start with the former German Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, who was earning an eye-watering salary at the very pinnacle of this organisation –

Dr Lewis: Gazprom.

Daniel Kawczynski: Yes, Gazprom, as my right hon. Friend says.