§ Sir F. BennettOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. A little earlier you admonished one of my hon. Friends for raising a point of order during Questions—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. I did not admonish the hon. Gentleman. I suggested that it might be raised later.
§ Sir F. BennettIn that case I feel heartened in continuing, for that is what I wish to do now. Exactly a week ago, a great deal of indignation was expressed on the Opposition benches because one or two of my hon. Friends and I had put down on the Order Paper identical or closely similar Questions, and great suggestions were made about plots, conspiracies and the rest. I wonder whether today, Mr. Speaker, when you are considering what the Table Office should do, 1177 you would take into account that no fewer than three identical Questions were put down to the Prime Minister for today, and no similar indignation was expressed from the same benches.
§ Mr. AshtonFurther to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. As you are aware, I have on previous occasions raised the matter of transfer of Questions by the Prime Minister's office. It has now reached the stage when there are literally only four or five categories of Question which the Prime Minister's office will accept, and hon. Members on this side have to resort to putting down Questions to ask the Prime Minister to pay visits to various places or put copies of speeches in the Library simply because there are no other Questions which his office will accept.
§ Mr. SpeakerThere are difficulties in these matters, but I do not think that they are for the Chair. Perhaps other important people who are present might consider them.
§ Mr. OnslowFurther to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. If the hon. Member for Bassetlaw (Mr. Ashton) wishes the House to take his point of order seriously, perhaps he will explain why one of his hon. Friends, the Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner), who, he says, was forced to adopt this footling device, put down Question No. Q4 and then did not turn up to ask it.