To ask the Secretary of State for Defence at what stage his Department assessed that the risk of attack against Saudi Arabia had become sufficiently grave to justify the dispatch of an armoured brigade for the defence of that country.

The initial military need in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait was to strengthen quickly the defences of the Gulf states and to enforce the United Nations embargo. To achieve this the United Kingdom, together with the United States and other countries, sent air and naval forces at the request of countries in the region. Substantial Iraqi forces, including large concentrations of armour, still occupy Kuwait. The deployment of 7 Armoured Brigade is to help counter the continued threat to the Gulf states from these forces.