§ Sir THOMAS INSKIPI desire respectfully, Mr. Speaker, to ask you for an expression of an opinion on a document which was, apparently, circulated to hon. Members yesterday. The document in question purports to be a reproduction of an address given by an official of the Soviet Embassy in London on 22nd April, and appears to be propaganda of a very controversial order, from the point of view of a Socialist, in favour of the five-year plan of the Soviet Union. On the front outside page it is stated that the address was delivered in a Committee Room of the House of 814 Commons. No other statement appears as to the persons to whom it was made, or the persons responsible for arranging the meeting. In these circumstances, I respectfully submit two points. The first is that the imprint describing the speech as having been delivered in a Committee Room of the House of Commons, without any indication of the nature of the audience, or the body responsible for the meeting, is calculated to give a wholly misleading impression in quarters outside the House, and to afford an unwarranted advertisement of the political theories advanced in the address. Secondly, I submit that the delivery in a Committee Room upstairs of a partisan speech, on a matter of current political controversy is an abuse of the privileges which Members enjoy, especially when the speech is intended for subsequent publication.
§ Mr. SPEAKERMy attention had been called to the matter to which the hon. and learned Gentleman refers. Of course, the House is very well aware of the rule which governs the granting of the use of Committee Rooms to Members of this House, namely, that the Members to whom that privilege is given, and who make use of Committee Rooms must be held responsible for what takes place in those Committee Rooms. As regards the actual statement on this paper that the address was delivered in a Committee Room of the House of Commons, I think it is undesirable that on documents of this kind, which are undoubtedly meant for a large circulation, a statement of that kind should be printed, because it gives a false impression to those who are not well initiated in the procedure which goes on in the Committee Rooms upstairs, of the weight attaching to a document or an address of this kind, and it is apt to mislead the public. I think that for those reasons it is undesirable that that statement should have been printed upon that document.
Mr. MACLEANWe may take it, Sir, that the Ruling which you are now giving is for our future guidance. I think it is within the memory of every Member who has been here for any length of time that various Committees of Members of this House have invited different individuals to give addresses in Committee Rooms upstairs upon different subjects, some of a decidedly partisan and political 815 character. In addition, sometimes the addresses so delivered have been printed and circulated, not merely to Members of this House, but to people outside. I submit that the matter raised by the hon. and learned Gentleman is no new matter. It is no innovation, as regards the way in which the Committee Booms are used, and I trust, Sir, that if you are now giving a Ruling, that Ruling will be made general to all sections of this House and will not really be made upon this particular case in which the parties concerned acted in all good faith and in accordance with the customary practice of Members of this House.
§ Mr. SPEAKERI am sorry that the Ruling which I gave a few minutes ago was entirely misunderstood by the hon. Member. I made no comment at all upon the use to which the Committee Boom had been put. The only Ruling I gave was that I thought it undesirable that undue weight should be given to the document by having printed upon it that the address was delivered in a Committee Boom of the House of Commons. That is the only comment I made. I do not say that it was out of order, but merely that it was undesirable, I make that remark for the guidance of Members of all parties.
Mr. MACLEANThat is the point upon which I was dwelling. On pamphlets that have been circulated containing addresses made in Committee Rooms in the past, it has been stated that the address was delivered to Members of the House of Commons. I can produce several which I have had sent to me. One was by Mr. Goodenough, the banker. These documents contained the information that the address was delivered to Members of the House of Commons, and I am putting it to you, Mr. Speaker, that your observations are for future guidance and cast no reflection on anything that has been done in the past.
§ Mr. R. A. TAYLORIn fairness to the gentleman who delivered the address, it ought to be stated that the publication was at the almost unanimous request of Members who were gathered at the meeting. I think that it was clearly not intended that the speech should be published for general distribution, but there was an almost unanimous request from 816 the Members present that the speech should be published in order that Members could have the address.
§ Mr. SPEAKERAgain, I say that I am making no comment on the way in which the speech was published. I only say that it is undesirable that undue weight should be given to such speeches by having printed on them that they were delivered in a Committee room of the House of Commons.
§ Sir AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINThis matter seems to call for a consideration by this House of the use of the Committee rooms for meetings and addresses by gentlemen other than Members of this House, to whatever party the audience or the speaker belongs. I want to ask the Prime Minister two questions arising out of this incident. The first is whether he does not think it would be desirable, perhaps through the usual channels, to have this matter considered by the representatives of the three parties—[HON. MEMBERS: "Why?"]—and to decide, subject to your authority, Sir, what are the limits within which any section of this House should be entitled to ask for the use of the Committee rooms. The second question, which is quite apart from that, is whether the right hon. Gentleman thinks it proper that one of the diplomatic representatives of another country should in any circumstances or on any subject——
Mr. MACLEANOn a point of Order. The question was raised by the hon. and learned Gentleman the late Attorney-General with regard to a particular meeting. He was good enough to mention no names and not to bring into his question anything relating to any nation with which that particular gentleman may have been associated. The point now being raised by the right hon. Member for West Birmingham (Sir A. Chamberlain) is an entirely new question, and I submit to you, Mr. Speaker, that you ought to have received notice of it.
§ Mr. SPEAKERI understand that the question which the right hon. Gentleman was putting was being put to the Prime Minister. Between 3.45 and 4 o'clock it is the common custom of this House to allow questions of that sort to be put to the Leader of the House.
Mr. MACLEANIs it not the custom if such a question is to be put, to give notice of it? [HON. MEMBERS: "What are you afraid of?"] No one there, anyway. [Interruption.] The question has been put by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for West Birmingham as if it definitely arose out of the matter which was raised by the hon. and learned Gentleman the Member for Fareham (Sir T. Inskip).
§ Sir A. CHAMBERLAINMy second question is whether the Prime Minister thinks that it is consonant with the traditions of this House or with diplomatic amenities that a member of any foreign embassy should address a party meeting in a Committee room of this House.
§ The PRIME MINISTERWith regard to the first question, I am not sure that it comes within my sphere. As the right hon. Gentleman has given me no notice of it, I am not quite prepared to answer it. With regard to the second question, that is obviously one of those private notice questions which ought to pass through your hands, Mr. Speaker, first of all. I certainly cannot answer it. Until I heard the question put by the hon. and learned Member for Fareham (Sir T. Inskip) I did not know that such a pamphlet existed. I have never seen it, and even now I do not know who the author is. If the right hon. Gentleman will go through the ordinary process, I will do my very best to answer him.
§ Sir A. CHAMBERLAINSubject to your permission, Mr. Speaker, I beg to give notice that I shall ask the right hon. Gentleman to-morrow.
§ Mr. ERNEST BROWNHas the Prime Minister considered that private Members of this House have no rooms of their own, and that it is a great convenience to them., through those responsible for letting the rooms, to have the rooms to discuss all kinds of questions?