§ Mr. WATTI want your ruling, Mr. Deputy-Speaker, on a matter which, I think, very nearly approaches a breach of the privileges of Membership of this House. On Wednesday last in this House the hon. Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Mr. Wedgwood) asked the hon. Member for Southampton (Mr. Dudley Ward) whether the journalists of the House of Commons paid £250 for a stand in Palace Yard from which to view the Coronation procession. An answer was given, and then I ventured on a supplementary question— "Are we to understand that the Press ask for the best seats it is possible to have?" and the reply was "very nearly." That was the extent of my crime. Thereafter a member of the Press Gallery approached me and made use of these 1355 words to me: "The Press will never forgive you for asking that question. They will pursue you as long as you are in political life," and particular emphasis was laid on the "never forgive," as though they would not only pursue me in this life but also in the next. Perhaps in the heat of the moment the Gentleman forgot the possibility of his future home. I desire to ask you whether that statement to me for my action in this House was not a breach of the privilege of Membership of this House, and if it is so, I would ask you to prove in some way that this action on the part of a member of the Press Gallery—I do not call it a threat—should not be unvisited by some censure of this House.
§ Mr. DEPUTY-SPEAKER (Mr. Emmott)The question raised by the hon. Member is one not for me, but for the House to decide. All I have to consider is whether there is any primâ facie case. In order to make out a primâ facie case, the hon. Member will have to give the name of the Gentleman of whom he speaks, and bring forward a Motion.
§ Mr. WATTI would much rather not give the name. I thought perhaps that a general statement from you would insure that that method would not be adopted in future.