Contributions
169 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Business of the HouseThe hon. Lady has raised a very serious and important point. I think we should make that commitment, because people need an opportunity to see what rules of play will obtain on…27 Mar 2019HANSARD Business of the HouseWe have a stellar constellation here today. The right hon. Lady is another very distinguished Member of the House who has held almost every post imaginable. She tempts me to do…27 Mar 2019HANSARD Business of the HouseI little imagined that we would find ourselves debating the sequence of our constitutional history, but because my hon. Friend is genuinely learned in the matter and this may be…27 Mar 2019HANSARD Business of the HouseI am particularly glad that my very distinguished hon. Friend has participated in this part of our proceedings. He has not, though he is an assiduous attender of debates, ever had…27 Mar 2019HANSARD Business of the HouseThe answer is no, obviously, as my right hon. and learned Friend intends. He and I were on opposite sides—bizarrely—on that issue. I actually believe that the whole of this…27 Mar 2019HANSARD Business of the HouseAs my right hon. and learned Friend is not just a former Chancellor, Lord Chancellor and almost everything else, but is also the Father of the House, he will certainly have more…27 Mar 2019HANSARD Business of the HouseAs one would expect, my right hon. Friend is right, but actually the Government often choose not to do that; they often allow legislation that contains things they do not quite…27 Mar 2019HANSARD Business of the HouseMy right hon. Friend, who is one of the two or three most distinguished and long-serving Members of Parliament and had a distinguished record in government, knows as well as I do…27 Mar 2019HANSARD Business of the HouseAgain, that is a perfectly reasonable set of questions with a definitive set of answers. On a third meaningful vote this Thursday or Friday, that timetable has been set by the…27 Mar 2019HANSARD Business of the HouseI am sorry—I have not mentioned any more days than the days I have mentioned already because I do not think it will be necessary to have any more, although, of course, if there…27 Mar 2019HANSARD Business of the HouseThe coda in my hon. Friend’s remark was, I think, an amusement, in the sense that I do not discern a vast pile of other Government business of the first order of importance…27 Mar 2019HANSARD Business of the HouseI give way to my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough (Mr Bone), because he made such a splendid case against me earlier.27 Mar 2019HANSARD Business of the HouseI am delighted that the hon. Gentleman, who has played an important part throughout these proceedings, raises both of those points, because they are ones that I wanted to come to…27 Mar 2019HANSARD Business of the HouseI do rather agree with the right hon. Gentleman about that. This is not the main burden of what I want to say today, but I share what may be his regret that about two and a half…27 Mar 2019HANSARD Business of the HouseThe hon. Lady is absolutely right that paragraph (2), which I have not yet had time to talk about because of taking interventions, does indeed book a slot for Monday. The reason…27 Mar 2019HANSARD Business of the HouseI am sure that Mr Speaker will want to say something about that at a later stage, but I believe that the House authorities, who have been extraordinarily assiduous in this and…27 Mar 2019HANSARD Business of the HouseI promised myself throughout this process that I would be honest with the House and I cannot honestly say that I am astonished that the Government are voting against it. Although…27 Mar 2019HANSARD Business of the HouseNo. I will in a moment, but I must answer this point first. It is more productive to answer one point at a time. I am absolutely clear that this is not an insurgency at all. It is…27 Mar 2019HANSARD Business of the HouseThat is a neat way of expressing my hon. Friend’s view, with which, as it happens, I agree.27 Mar 2019HANSARD Business of the HouseI think my hon. Friend’s mathematics is perfect. I observe that he has attached quite significant emphasis to the vote on the referendum result. Therefore, I hope that he joins me…27 Mar 2019