§ Mr. Ness EdwardsOn a point of order. You have ruled, Mr. Speaker, that the term "slippery" is an unparliamentary word. Since when has that become so? Within my recollection a right hon. Member opposite repeatedly referred to a "slippery Sam", and there was an occasion when another right hon. Member was referred to as "leaving a trail of slime across the Floor of the House." Are we now becoming a mealy-mouthed assembly?
§ Mr. SpeakerWith respect, I think that the right hon. Gentleman is on a different point. If an unparliamentary expression is used in debate there may be grounds for requiring it to be withdrawn, but at Question Time epithets are inappropriate, under a different rule relating to Questions. It was on that that I required the withdrawal.
§ Mr. Ness EdwardsCan you supply a reference for that Ruling, Mr. Speaker.
§ Mr. SpeakerLooking at the first page I open in the current edition of Erskine May—page 358—it is proposition (2), in the middle of the page.
§ Mr. CallaghanAre we to take it that it is out of order to say that the Lord Privy Seal is slippery at Question Time, but that it is in order to say that he is slippery during a debate?
§ Mr. SpeakerWhen the hon. Member says it—and I am not giving him the slightest encouragement to say it—I will rule upon it. My reason is that the exact implications of the word used depend so much on the context, and I do not like to make abstract Rulings on a dictionary basis.