§ Mr. TebbitOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. You will recollect that during Questions, on Question No. 9, there were exchanges about the Minister's answer. I appreciate that it is not for the Chair to intrude into matters affecting the nature of a reply to a parliamentary Question. However, the point was raised that the Secretary of State replied not to the Question on the Order Paper but to a Question which had not been asked, the Secretary of State saying in essence that he understood through an exchange with the hon. Member for Salford, East (Mr. Allaun) that that was in fact the Question that the hon. Gentleman wanted answering—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. The hon. Member for Chingford (Mr. Tebbit) must admit that his point of order is directed to the content of an answer to a parliamentary Question. It has nothing to do with me.
§ Mr. TebbitFurther to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. With great respect to you, I appreciate that the matter of a Minister's reply to a Question is not for you, but surely it is for you to decide whether Ministers may choose to answer Questions which are not on the Order Paper, otherwise we can all play this hilarious game of putting down one Question on the Order Paper and arranging for the Minister to reply to a different one if he finds that the answer to the original one will embarrass him.
§ Mr. SpeakerI doubt whether that course would have much success with the House.