HC Deb 03 July 1972 vol 840 cc32-4
Mr. Speaker

I wish to refer to the matter raised last Thursday by the right hon. Member for Vauxhall (Mr. Strauss) and others.

As the House will see from page 325 of Erskine May, very clear restrictions are placed upon Questions regarding public speeches by Ministers. Speeches made by Ministers not of Cabinet rank cannot be mentioned in a Question at all. Those of Cabinet Ministers can be canvassed only by the method of asking the Prime Minister whether they represent the policy of Her Majesty's Government.

This form of Question is not available, however, in respect of a speech by the Prime Minister himself; because it would suggest its own answer. Accordingly, it has for some years been accepted that a Question asking the Prime Minister to place a copy of one of his speeeches in the Library is a legitimate foundation for supplementary questions regarding the content of that speech.

The right of hon. Members to ask Questions about public speeches by senior Ministers has long been established, and I do not believe that it would be in the best interests of the House for Members to be totally prevented from asking about those made by the most senior Minister of all. I rule accordingly that Questions in this particular form, singled out as they are for special reference in Erskine May, are sui generis and not capable of being blocked by an answer of a sort which would normally be interpreted as a refusal to answer further Questions.

I would also wish to confirm in public the private ruling given by my predecessor in 1969; namely, that Questions about speeches by the Prime Minister cannot be asked in any other form.

Mr. Harold Wilson

I thank you for that ruling, Mr. Speaker. You pointed out that this form of Questions to the Prime Minister has been known for some years. I myself once put a Question to Mr. Harold Macmillan asking whether one of his speeches represented the policy of the Government, but that Question was refused by the Table—properly, it should be noted. It should be noted also that it was only in about 1964 that the practice of asking for copies of speeches to be put in the Library was developed. The practice grew up early in 1964, I think on this side of the House, and it was developed thereafter.

The House will be grateful to you, Mr. Speaker, for making it clear that this agreeable practice may continue.

The Prime Minister

I also thank you for your ruling, Mr. Speaker. As I told the hon. Member for Fife, West (Mr. William Hamilton), if the House wishes to put down repetitive Questions of this kind it is a matter for the House, and I will answer them.

Mr. Paget

Do we not experience a somewhat absurd situation when, at Prime Minister's Questions day after day, 10 hon. Members wish him to put his own speech in the Library and 20 hon. Members want to know whether he agrees with his Cabinet colleagues?

Would it not be more convenient—this is really a matter for the Select Committee on Procedure—if a Question not merely asked whether the Prime Minister agreed with his Cabinet colleague's speech but also included some words to indicate which portion of the speech and which statement was questioned, and, as to the Prime Minister's own speeches, if there were an indication as to the passage it was desired to challenge? It would make it more intelligible for those who wished to read the Order Paper.

Mr. Speaker

However that may be, I have ruled on the point that I was asked to rule upon.