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TUESDAY 30 OCTOBER 2001
Members present:
Sir George Young, in the Chair
| Peter Bottomley | Mr Andrew Dismore
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| Mr Russell Brown | Mr Michael Jabez Foster
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| Ross Cranston | |
Ordered, That, pursuant to Standing Order No. 150, the
Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards do attend the meeting.—(The
Chairman.)
The Commissioner attended accordingly.
The Committee deliberated.
Draft Report [Complaint against Mr Roy Beggs], proposed by the
Chairman, brought up and read.
Ordered, That the draft Report be read a second time, paragraph
by paragraph.
Paragraphs 1 to 5 read and agreed to.
Resolved, That the Report be the Second Report of the Committee
to the House.
Ordered, That the Chairman do make the Report to the House.
Ordered, That the memorandum from the Parliamentary Commissioner
for Standards be appended to the Report.
Ordered, That the Appendix to the Report be reported to
the House.—(The Chairman.)
[See House of Commons Paper No. 319]
Draft Report [Complaint against Mr John Maxton], proposed by the
Chairman, brought up and read.
Ordered, That the draft Report be read a second time, paragraph
by paragraph.
Paragraphs 1 read and agreed to.
Paragraph 2 read, as follows:
"We have considered the further information which the Commissioner
has placed before us, which includes a letter which Mr Maxton
wrote to the General Secretary of the Scottish Labour Party on
10 November 1999. After a thorough examination of this information,
and after careful consideration of the Commissioner's recommendation
that we take oral evidence on oath from Mr Maxton and several
other possible witnesses, we have concluded that the evidential
value of that which is now available to us, and which was not
available to the former Committee, is not sufficient to justify
a review of the conclusions which our predecessors reached in
the Report on the original complaint against Mr Maxton, which
was extensively investigated by the Commissioner and where our
predecessors rightly criticised the role of the press. We also
felt that little purpose would be served by calling witnesses
before us. Accordingly we have decided not to take this matter
any further."
Amendment proposed, in line 3, to leave out from "1999"
to the end of the paragraph and add the words "The Committee
invites Mr John Maxton, Ms Lesley Quinn, Mr John Rowan, Mr
Chris Winslow and Mr Jonathan Upton to give oral evidence on these
matters."—(Peter Bottomley.)
Question put, That the Amendment be made.
The Committee divided.
Ayes, 1
Peter Bottomley
Noes, 4
Mr Russell Brown
Ross Cranston
Mr Andrew Dismore
Mr Michael Jabez Foster
Paragraph agreed to.
Paragraph 3 read and agreed to.
Resolved, That the Report be the Third Report of the Committee
to the House.
Ordered, That the Chairman do make the Report to the House.
Ordered, That the memorandum from the Parliamentary Commissioner
for Standards be appended to the Report.
Ordered, That the Appendix to the Report be reported to
the House.—(The Chairman.)
[See House of Commons Paper No. 320]
The Committee further deliberated.
[Adjourned till Tuesday 6 November at half-past Ten o'clock.
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