§ 11.4 a.m.
§ Mr. SpeakerI know that the House will wish me to express thanks to all who have served the House this year. We thank the Clerk of the House and those who serve under him, advising Members here and in Committee and at the Table Office every day, who prepare every day an ever-more voluminous Order Paper; and the Serjeant at Arms and the most efficient set of attendants in the world. I want to pay special tribute on your behalf to the Vote Office, who this year have had to face some very special difficulties, but for whose special efforts we should not have been able to carry on.
We are grateful to the HANSARD reporters who set down accurately for history all our words, sometimes wise, sometimes perhaps not quite so wise; and to the Press Gallery, who report us faithfully, who offer us advice from time to time which we are free to reject or accept as we think appropriate, and who maintain the traditions which their great predecessors established—and with them both radio and television.
We are grateful to the Librarians, who are always ready to help us in the Library, which is rapidly developing; those who provide us with food and refreshment at every awkward hour of the day and night that we choose in an irrational way to be here; the police who protect us and the building 24 hours a day; the women who clean the building and the men who maintain it. One special word of thanks to those who sit cooped up in tiny rooms adjusting the loudspeakers and working the annunciators. From all we receive devoted service and courtesy. The House is indeed grateful.
1732 I add my own thanks to the Services Committee, who are my constitutional advisers, and to Sir Barnett Cocks, Clerk of the House, to whom I owe so much. It has been an exacting year. We have made heavy demands on our staff, as we have on ourselves, and the staff have invariably responded magnificently.