§ Q3. Mr. Onslowasked the Prime Minister if he will instruct the members of his Administration to give more informative replies to Parliamentary Questions.
§ The Prime MinisterIt is my understanding that all members of the Administration give uniformly informative and illuminating answers on almost all occasions, Sir.
§ Mr. OnslowWhile nobody would ever expect the Prime Minister to set a good example in this matter, may I ask him whether he is aware that hon. Members are continually forced to put down a whole series of Parliamentary Questions in order to extract a half-truth from Ministers and that this devalues the whole process of Parliamentary questioning?
§ The Prime MinisterI do not remember whether the hon. Member was around at the time, but if he looks at the 1072 records he will find that all of us in this Administration, including myself, give fuller answers and more answers than were given by our predecessors.
§ Mr. C. PannellHas the Prime Minister ever reflected on Stanley Baldwin's dictum on the many-sidedness of truth? Will he bear in mind that a great many of us think that both Questions and Answers are already far too long?
§ The Prime MinisterI have answered more Questions personally per annum than did my predecessors. If I may express a personal view about Questions, I think that the time of the House might be better employed, and more hon. Members might have a chance to put important Questions and receive answers to them, if we did not have so many frivolous Questions which had already been put the previous week.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterIn reflecting on his right hon. Friend's comment on the many-sidedness of truth, does the Prime Minister recall his own answer last week about the forthcoming freeze?
§ The Prime MinisterYes. It was a perfectly appropriate Answer. It was, indeed, a subject of debate on Tuesday of this week. But when I do reflect on the subject referred to by my right hon. Friend the Member for Leeds, West (Mr. C. Pannell), I am amazed at some of the speeches which I read which have been made by right hon. Gentlemen opposite, and if the Leader of the Opposition had been here I would have called his attention to the total falsification of a speech of mine at Newtown, for he was on the record as quoting words which I did not use or ever dream of using, but which were attributed to me by him.
§ Mr. ShinwellDoes my right hon. Friend really expect us to believe that, however uniformly informative the Answers or however uniformly long the Answers to Questions, the Opposition would be satisfied?
§ The Prime MinisterNo. I would not think so. But the original Answer did not say "uniformly informative, uniformly long". It said "uniformly informative, uniformly illuminating".
§ Mr. OnslowOn a point of order. In view of the unsatisfactory nature of that reply, I give notice that I shall raise the matter on the Adjournment.