21. Mr. Gresham Cookeasked the Minister of Works what steps he is proposing to take to have cleaned off the names and other marks scribbled on the porch of St. Stephen's entrance of the Palace of Westminster.
§ The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works (Mr. Harmar Nicholls)The entrance will be cleaned when the stonework restoration now in progress is finished in the autumn.
Mr. Gresham CookeIn thanking my hon. Friend for that Answer, may I ask whether he can give an assurance that the St. Stephen's porch will be cleaned by the Summer Recess? If my hon. Friend looks at it, he will see that in the stonework are hearts and love messages cut by juvenile members of the community. Can my hon. Friend have steps taken to have all these peculiar markings removed?
§ Mr. NichollsI have no doubt that during the passage of the Finance Bill, love messages will be flowing about inside the Chamber as well as outside. The cleaning envisaged in the Question will, we hope, be completed by the time that Her Majesty opens the Inter-Parliamentary Union Conference on 12th September.
§ Mr. Anthony GreenwoodWill the Minister bear in mind Lord Curzon's complaint that the only result of popular education was that the rude words written on his door were written six inches lower down? Is that the experience of the Minister of Works?
§ Mr. NichollsI did not hear my hon. hon. Friend say that they were rude words. He said that they were loving words.