§ Mr. ManuelOn a point of order. May I thank you, Mr. Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to—
§ Mr. SpeakerI have a slight suspicion that the hon. Member is going out of order. I cannot be associated with what he is about to say, but I must hear what he has to say.
§ Mr. ManuelI thought that I had notified you, Mr. Speaker. I thank you for the opportunity—[Laughter.]
I want to ask you if I may have the opportunity to apologise to the House, and, in particular, to the hon. Member for Buckinghamshire, South (Mr. Ronald Bell) for wrongly attributing to him, during a speech I made on the Public Order Bill yesterday, references to coloured people and immoral earnings.
The hon. Member did not make these references; they were made by the hon. Member for Liverpool, Kirkdale (Mr. N. Pannell), to whom I spoke afterwards about what I had said, because he was not in the Chamber.
§ Mr. SpeakerI must explain the difficulty. I understand what the hon. Member is saying, and the House will appreciate it. The point is that it does not raise a point of order for me. The strict position is that if the hon. Member desires to make a statement in personal explanation he should submit it to the Chair before making it. I wish to make that point clear.