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Mr. Hogg: Further to that point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. You and I have been Members of the House for a long time—you rather longer than me. Would you be good enough to confirm that a Minister will often stand up at the beginning of a debate to say a few words to the motion and to apologise for, and explain, the absence of a Minister such as the part-time Leader of the House when the latter's name heads the motion?
Mr. Deputy Speaker: No. I can speak from considerable experience to say that that does not always happen and that the House does not always take it in bad heart.
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: Further to the point of order made by my right hon. Friend the shadow Leader of the House, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I understood that you made it clear that the House must pass a motion each time that Mr. Speaker needs to be away from the House. Will you enlighten me on what would happen if Mr. Speaker knew that he would be away for three days during a two-month period? Could that be allowed by one consolidated motion?
Mr. Deputy Speaker: That is entirely hypothetical. The answer that I gave to the right hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Mr. Forth) was crystal clear in the context of our debate today.
Michael Fabricant: I cannot help but ask myself whether it is right that Mr. Speaker should be given leave of absence on Wednesday 18 June, given the
unique circumstances of having a part-time Leader of the House who cannot be present and who allows his full-time deputy to be present without putting the deputy's name—
Mr. Deputy Speaker: Order. I have dealt with that matter and have tried to assist the House as well as I can. We should proceed with the debate on the substance of the motion.
Michael Fabricant: I was merely going to ask whether such an action would be courteous.
Mr. Forth: Perhaps I can help my hon. Friend. That august body, the House of Commons Commission, is meeting as we speak. I am a member of the Commission for the time being, but I have chosen to fulfil my parliamentary duties by being in the Chamber. The part-time Leader of the House has chosen to be in the Commission meeting. I shall leave my hon. Friend and others present to judge which they think is the better choice.
Michael Fabricant: That is an interesting point. I hope that tens of millions of pounds will not be wasted on blank cheques because of the absence of my right hon. Friend, who is always cautious when he attends the Commission's meetings.
I was talking about the role of the Speaker in representing the United Kingdom. As I mentioned before, his receipt of an honorary doctorate in Glasgow strengthens the role of the UK at a difficult time. Only today we heard a statement on regional assemblies—
Mr. Deputy Speaker: Order. The hon. Gentleman is becoming repetitious. He prompts me by saying "as I mentioned before". I remind him how close we might be to implementing Standing Order No. 42.
Michael Fabricant: I am grateful, Mr. Deputy Speaker, for your reminder of Standing Order No. 42 and for reminding me not to remind the Chair when I have already made a point. That might be good advice for when I am invited to take part in "Just a Minute" on BBC Radio 4.
My serious point relates to the role of Mr. Speaker in representing all of us in the United Kingdom.
Sir Sydney Chapman (Chipping Barnet): I remind my hon. Friend that next Wednesday sees a happy conjunction of events. First, Mr. Speaker will, we hope, have leave of absence to get his honorary doctorate at Glasgow university. I shall certainly vote for the motion. Secondly, the Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Ways and Means will celebrate his 33rd anniversary of being elected to the House. A few others will also celebrate that anniversary but, sadly, it is only a few. With his huge experience, the Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Ways and Means has my full confidence in acting for the Speaker on that day in particular.
Michael Fabricant: I am very grateful for that intervention. The whole House can congratulate the Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Ways and Means on his 33rd anniversary in the House. I for one have no
doubt that even though we have a complex and difficult day on Wednesday 18 June, the Deputy Speaker, acting as qua Speaker, as my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham said, will do so with dignity and equal skill.It will be a difficult day. That is relevant. As some hon. Members said, we have questions to the Deputy Prime Minister and the Prime Minister. We have also learned that there will be a statement by the Prime Minister on the future constitution of Parliament, directly flowing from the Speaker's intervention and request. A 10-minute Bill is on the Order Paper—
Mr. Deputy Speaker: Order. The hon. Gentleman does not need to go through the Order Paper. For all I know, it is as yet incomplete for Wednesday. He might know that I have sat in the Chair to deal with the contentious matter of 10-minute Bills before.
Michael Fabricant: Do you not think, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that the Domestic Violence (Law Reform) Bill, which will be introduced by my hon. Friend the Member for Buckingham, might be so contentious that the House becomes disorderly?
Mr. Forth: Is my hon. Friend not slightly worried about the hint dropped by Mr. Deputy Speaker a moment ago when he said that the Order Paper "is as yet incomplete"? The anxiety is not what we already know about the Order Paper, but what could arise between now and Wednesday. Has my hon. Friend thought of that?
Michael Fabricant: My right hon. Friend raises an important point. Who would have thought that a statement would have bitten into Opposition day time last week? That was pretty surprising given the agreement on both sides of the House that that should not happen. We do not know what will happen on Wednesday. It is an important day. I have put my name down to speak in the debate on European affairs, and I hope that I catch your eye, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
Mr. Deputy Speaker: Order. The hon. Gentleman is going a good way about it.
Mr. Hogg: On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. For the purposes of clarification, will you advise the House what aspects of my hon. Friend's speechifying are likely to disqualify him so that we can all learn from his experience?
Mr. Deputy Speaker: I was merely alluding to the fact that the hon. Member for Lichfield (Michael Fabricant) was bringing himself to prominence by stressing that he hoped to catch the eye of the occupant of the Chair at the relevant time on Wednesday.
Michael Fabricant: I am grateful for that—
Mr. Bellingham: On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I left the Chamber a few moments ago to go to the gents and then to have a glass of water and make a
few telephone calls. I left in the hope that by the time I returned my hon. Friend would have finished his speech. I notice from the annunciator that he started his speech at 6.8 pm. It is now 6.16 pm. There must be a mistake. I have a feeling he started at least 40 minutes ago.
Mr. Deputy Speaker: There is a mistake on the annunciator, but we were all so engrossed in the speech of the hon. Member for Lichfield that none of us noticed.
Michael Fabricant: Mr. Deputy Speaker, you are a generous man and I have no doubt that you will ably replace—if that is the right word—the Speaker on Wednesday 18 June. Given that the amount of time one speaks in this debate might be linked to one's chances of speaking on Wednesday, it might be useful if I concluded my remarks.
At the beginning I asked whether it is right to give the Speaker leave to go to Glasgow to have an honorary doctorate conferred on him. I believe that it is. It is an honour not only for Mr. Speaker Martin, but for the House. The Speaker performs his role with dignity and excellence. Those who carp about the Speaker would not dream of doing the job themselves. The criticisms of him are driven by class, arrogance and pomposity. He has created an atmosphere in the House that compares well, if not better, with that of certain former Speakers, who I believe created in some instances an aura of terror. I just wanted to get that point on the record. I for one will support the motion.
6.18 pm
The Deputy Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. Phil Woolas): I am in an unusual position, Mr. Deputy Speaker. If you will permit me, I shall stray from the narrow order of the debate simply to say what a great honour and privilege it is to speak from the Dispatch Box. I hope that in whatever time I spend in this post, I do my constituents of Oldham, East and Saddleworth, and the House and its rules, proud. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak.
I find myself in unusual circumstances also because, contrary to my assessment that this would be merely a pleasurable rubber-stamping exercise, the civil servants in the Office of the Leader of the House, whom I have already discovered to be excellent, advised me to prepare some notes in the event that the right hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Mr. Forth) wanted, with whatever motive, to make some remarks.
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