§ Mr. SpeakerI have a statement to make to the House. As the House knows, three of its most senior servants are leaving the service of the House today, or indeed have already left. Sir David 392 Lidderdale, Clerk of the House, leaves today; Sir Alexander Gordon Lennox, Serjeant-at-Arms, has already left; and Mr. David Holland, Librarian, leaves today. I am sure that the House would not wish me to let this occasion go by without giving some opportunity to say farewell to individuals who have served the House so long and so faithfully.
The House will not expect me to speak at length on this matter, but there is one point of substance that I would wish to make. The parliamentary pressures which we have all felt in recent times do not affect Members alone. Very heavy responsibilities are borne by those who serve the House, and I think that we should all recognise that under such conditions the burden shouldered by heads of departments today, whether Clerk of the House, Serjeant-at-Arms or Librarian, are much heavier than those carried by their predecessors in earlier years. [An HON. MEMBER: "You can say that again."] I am not going to.
In recognising this fact of present-day parliamentary life, I know that right hon. and hon. Members in all parts of the House will wish to join me in thanking Sir David Lidderdale, Sir Alexander Gordon Lennox and Mr. David Holland for their outstanding services over the years and in wishing them well during their retirement. They will take with them the respect, gratitude and affection of the House in a way which cannot have been surpassed, if indeed it was ever equalled, by their predecessors in times past.
§ The Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. Michael Foot)It has been the custom of the House that a motion should be tabled on such occasions as this when distinguished servants of the House leave us. It is certainly our wish that such a motion should be tabled and we shall certainly put it down at an appropriate time. One of the reasons why we did not think it easy to do so today is that Sir Alexander Gordon Lennox cannot be here today and we would wish him to be here when we make our tribute to him also. We shall therefore do that at an early stage and we shall inform the House of our intentions.
Perhaps I could add to what you have said, Mr. Speaker. I will follow your example in not rehearsing what we may 393 say later but certainly in times of stress and difficulty in this House we should appreciate that we owe even more to the servants of the House than we possibly do on other occasions. As one who has spent most of his time on the Back Benches of this House rather than on any Front Bench, I believe that the Back Benchers owe even more to the servants of the House than do the Front Benches.
I therefore wish to join in the thanks which you have expressed, but I repeat that there will be an occasion on the tabling of the motion for us to express our thanks in the manner in which it has been done on previous occasions.
§ Mr. Grimond rose—
§ Mr. SpeakerI will call the right hon. Gentleman in a moment if he wishes, but, in view of what has been said, I wonder whether the House would like to keep its tributes until the motion is tabled.