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Caroline Flint (Don Valley): On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. May I have some guidance? Is not the hon. Member for West Dorset (Mr. Letwin) misinforming the House by implying that this person was a civil service appointment, rather than a political appointment?
Mr. Deputy Speaker: That is not a matter for the occupant of the Chair.
Mr. Letwin: I shall answer. The appointment of Ms Regan--[Interruption.]
Mr. Deputy Speaker: Order. The House must come to order. The hon. Gentleman is in order. I assure the House that, if he is out of order, I shall be the first to say so.
Mr. Letwin: The appointment of Ms Regan was a public service appointment, or would have been, had it occurred. In seeking to make it happen while deceiving officials, the Foreign Secretary acted in a way that would have led to the dismissal of a senior official, had he behaved in the same way.
Thirdly, in behaving as he did in Albania, the Foreign Secretary demeaned himself, his office and this country.
Mr. Deputy Speaker:
Order. Did the hon. Gentleman say that the Foreign Secretary was deceiving the House? [Interruption.] Order. I must hear the hon. Gentleman, and the House is not giving me that opportunity. How can I chair these proceedings if there is too much noise? Did the hon. Gentleman mention the word "deceiving"?
Mr. Letwin:
I did not mention the term "deceit" in the context of this House. [Interruption.]
Mr. Deputy Speaker:
Order. Let me chair the debate. There are too many chairmen. The hon. Member for West Dorset should not accuse another hon. Member of deception of any kind. Will he withdraw that remark?
Mr. Michael Howard (Folkestone and Hythe)
rose--
Mr. Deputy Speaker:
I understand that the right hon. and learned Gentleman has the permission of the Minister and the promoter of the Adjournment debate to speak.
Mr. Howard:
That is so. I make it clear from the outset, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that I speak from the Back Benches in deference to your specific ruling on this point, that I do not intend to accept any interventions so that the Minister may have the maximum amount of time to respond to this important if brief debate, and that the world will draw its own conclusions from the ludicrous attempts by Labour Members to disrupt this debate, and will ask what they have to hide.
Let me make it clear at the outset--[Interruption.]
Mr. Deputy Speaker:
Order. The House is far too noisy. The House must come to order. The right hon. and learned Gentleman is speaking from the Back Benches because of my ruling.
Mr. Howard:
This is not a debate about the private life of the Foreign Secretary. The criticisms that we make are not about his private life. When the Foreign Secretary made his decision last August, apparently at the behest of the Prime Minister's press secretary, to leave his wife, I made no comment. My right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition said that he was not going to use it against him in any way, as it was a personal and private matter. When the Foreign Secretary's wife entered the lists last month with comments that gave us a remarkable insight into the Foreign Secretary's character, I again made no criticism.
What we are concerned about today is the way in which the Foreign Secretary discharges his public duties and his public responsibilities. That is properly a matter for this House. Indeed, it is the very essence of our system--
Mr. Deputy Speaker:
Order. I have appealed to those on the Government Benches and I do so again. Hon. Members must keep in good order.
Mr. Howard:
It is the very essence of our system of parliamentary democracy that the way in which Ministers carry out their public duties and responsibilities should be subject to scrutiny in Parliament. That is what Parliament is here to do, and if Parliament neglected its obligation to protect defenceless citizens and to hold Ministers to account, it would be a dereliction of its duty to those who send us to this place.
The allegation made against the Foreign Secretary is that he sacked a civil servant, sought to replace her with his mistress, did not tell officials in the Foreign Office that she was his mistress, and left the public to pick up the bill for compensating that sacked civil servant. If true, that conduct would amount to a scandalous abuse of ministerial power.
It would render the Foreign Secretary unfit for public office. Indeed, I doubt whether the seriousness of such conduct is a matter for controversy.
A week ago, the Prime Minister himself agreed that such conduct would be wrong. Last Friday, the Foreign Secretary agreed that such conduct would be wrong. He said that on 30 May he recognised that what he had spent many days--indeed, perhaps weeks--trying to do was wrong. We now know--
Mr. Deputy Speaker:
Order. The right hon. and learned Gentleman is not going to give way. He made that clear at the beginning of his speech.
Mr. Ivor Caplin (Hove):
Coward--Howard the coward.
Mr. Deputy Speaker:
Order. That term should not be used in the House. The hon. Gentleman must withdraw it--please withdraw it.
Mr. Deputy Speaker:
It is withdrawn.
Mr. Howard:
We now know, after days of written answers, dragged bit by bit out of the Foreign Secretary--
Dr. George Turner (North-West Norfolk):
On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
Mr. Deputy Speaker:
I hope that it is a point of order.
Dr. Turner:
As a new Member, I would welcome your guidance, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Many hon. Members would like to know whether the right hon. and learned Gentleman has some form of interest to declare, because many of us on Labour Benches are incensed to hear that cheque-book journalism is afoot and that the right hon. and learned Gentleman's friends are involved in it. Have we not a right--
Mr. Deputy Speaker:
Order. That is not a matter for the Chair.
Mr. Howard:
We now know, after written answers dragged bit by bit, day by day, out of the Foreign Secretary that in every material respect the allegation against him has been proved. It is admitted that he sacked a civil servant.
Mr. Andy King (Rugby and Kenilworth):
On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
Mr. Deputy Speaker:
I hope that it is a proper point of order, as there have been none so far.
Mr. King:
I believe that I have a point of order. I am a new Member too, Mr. Deputy Speaker, so I seek some clarification from you. The right hon. and learned Gentleman is making unsubstantiated allegations and is not willing to answer one question--
Mr. Deputy Speaker:
Order. That is not a point of order.
Mr. Howard:
Nothing I say is unsubstantiated.
It is admitted that the Foreign Secretary caused a civil servant to be sacked. It is admitted that he sought to replace her with Mrs. Gaynor Regan. It is admitted that he did not tell officials in the Foreign Office that she was his mistress. It is admitted that the taxpayer picked up the bill for the sacked civil servant's compensation.
It is a measure of the lack of any moral sense among Labour Members that they behave as they do this afternoon. In every respect, the charge against the Foreign Secretary has been proved--[Interruption.]
Mr. Deputy Speaker:
Order. I must appeal again to the House to behave itself. The House is behaving very badly.
Mr. Howard:
I will not weary the House with all the answers that we have had from the Foreign Secretary, interesting though they are. But there is one which perhaps more than any other--
Mr. Charles Clarke (Norwich, South):
On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Is it in order for the right hon. and learned Gentleman to continue to refer to the lady in question as a public servant and civil servant, even though she was not at the time of her appointment by a previous Foreign Secretary?
Mr. Deputy Speaker:
The right hon. and learned Gentleman is responsible for his own speech.
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