HC Deb 14 March 1972 vol 833 cc298-9
Mr. Crouch

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. May I seek your guidance, Mr. Speaker, on the style and manner of Questions to my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, a matter to which I have drawn your attention before? We have had four almost identical Questions today requesting answers from my right hon. Friend about his broadcast on 27th February. I should have thought that this House would have been helped if the matter had been confined to one Question, with some supplementary questions to follow.

Secondly, we are seeing again the tendency to ask my right hon. Friend to visit a number of places in the country with a view to promoting supplementary questions to my right hon. Friend which are quite unrelated. I seek your guidance, Mr. Speaker, as to whether we can avoid this type of Question in the future.

Mr. Speaker

I believe that I dealt with the form in which Questions are put down to the Prime Minister last Thursday. This is much more a matter for the Committee which is now considering Questions. It is not a matter for the Chair.

Mr. William Hamilton

On the same point, Mr. Speaker. You will recall that when the Prime Minister was answering Question No. Q4 he was presuming, with the permission of the House, to answer further Questions on the same subject. The right hon. Gentleman specifically excluded Question No. Q25, standing in my name, although it was tabled on the same day and is couched in identical terms. This is extremely unsatisfactory, in view of the fact that I had a friendly supplementary question to ask the right hon. Gentleman.

Mr. Speaker

I think that even the Prime Minister would suspect some people with friendly supplementary questions However, that is not a matter for me.