§ Mr. SpeakerI shall now rule on the submission made to me yesterday by the hon. Member for Nottingham, West (Mr. English) that a contempt of the House had been committed either by the Observer newspaper or by certain hon. Members referred to by that newspaper.
The hon. Member submitted that there had been a relaxation of the rule that the complaint must be made at the earliest opportunity, but the Order of the House of 2nd November 1960, quoted on page 348 of "Erskine May" makes quite clear that Mr. Speaker must be satisfied that the notice has been given at the earliest opportunity if precedence is to be given to a complaint as a matter of privilege. This resolution has not been subject to any subsequent modification by the House.
In my opinion, no relevant facts concerning the article emerged yesterday that were not well known on Monday. I cannot, therefore, today give any motion relating to this matter precedence over the Orders of the Day.
The hon. Member put forward other arguments relating to the merits of the matter, but I do not think that these are appropriate for comment from me. I must confine myself, as my predecessors have done, strictly to the issue of precedence, which I cannot allow. As the House knows, it is incumbent upon me to work within the Standing Orders as they are decided by the House itself.