QUESTION OF PRIVILEGE (Hansard, 20 May 1966)

§ Mr. English
I seek your guidance on a matter concerning the privileges of this House, Mr. Speaker. I would like, first, to make it plain that I do not seek to bring to the Floor of the House a matter which has occurred in a Committee which has not yet reported to the House. I understand that to do so would be against the rules of order.
What I do complain of, however, and seek your guidance upon, is that those proceedings which occurred yesterday in a Select Committee of the House have, in fact, been published orally to other persons and, indeed, are the common gossip of the Palace of Westminster. It is impossible, of course, to publish them in print, because to do so would be a breach of Privilege by members of the Press, but they are well known to the Press and I therefore seek your guidance on the situation that has now arisen. As I understand it, a breach of convention, although not of procedure, occurred 1742 in a Select Committee of the House yesterday—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. The hon. Member cannot refer in any way to what happened in a Select Committee of the House until that Committee has reported to the House.

§ Mr. English
Very well, Mr. Speaker. I seek your guidance because I understand that such proceedings have been referred to and I therefore submit that it is the common knowledge of the Palace that a breach of Privilege has been committed. I would appreciate your Ruling on the situation that has arisen.

§ Mr. Speaker
I am grateful to the hon. Member for having given me prior notice that he would raise a question of Privilege. I am not, however, aware of all the circumstances to which he was referring, and these I must inquire into. It is open to any hon. Member to make a complaint of breach of Privilege of the House, but, in the circumstances to which the hon. Member refers, I detect a danger of intervening in the affairs of the Select Committee.
Generally speaking, a matter alleged to have arisen in a Committee, but not yet reported by the Committee, may not be brought to the attention of the House as a question of Privilege. But having said that, I ask the House to give me the customary time in which to consider whether a prima facie case has been made out by the hon. Member, and I will let the House know my decision on Monday.