QUESTIONS TO MINISTERS (Hansard, 7 May 1980)

§ Mr. Dalyell
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I gave notice of a point of order, and in raising again a point of order with you I make an apology to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and others who have come into the Chamber for the public expenditure debate. However, some delicate and rather fundamental issues are involved concerning the relationship of the House with Downing Street and the arbitrary blocking of parliamentary questions by diktat of the Prime Minister.
To be fair, the Prime Minister has been very good about not transferring parliamentary questions—

§ Mr. Dalyell
My point of order is that the right hon. Lady's actions in relation to Diego Garcia are out of character with her attitude to parliamentary questions hitherto, which in itself may be a cause for suspicion—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. The hon. Gentleman is not entitled to use a point of order to argue a case and express his views about the Prime Minister's reasons for her actions. If there is a point of order on which I can rule, I shall be grateful if the hon. Gentleman, who is well experienced, will submit it to me.

§ Mr. Dalyell
I am asking for your protection, Mr. Speaker, against arbitrary decisions by a Prime Minister in a particular instance to block questions that may be conceived as being inconvenient to her. If I am to be coherent, I shall have to explain a little of the background.
As you will recollect, Mr. Speaker, at about 2.30 pm on Tuesday 29 April I handed the following question for oral answer to the Lord Privy Seal for Wednesday 14 May. The question was: to ask the Lord Privy Seal at what point he or Her Majesty's Ambassador in Washington was informed of the United States intention to use the Anglo-American bases at Diego Garcia "—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. Is the hon. Gentleman seeking to read out—I have, by the way, had no notice of this—a question that was disallowed at the Table Office? If it was disallowed, he cannot read it out. If it was approved, it is in order to read it to me.

§ Mr. Dalyell
At 10 o'clock this morning I gave notice in the normal way to the Table Office of precisely the issue that I intended to raise as a point of order. I shall not read out the whole—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I must inform the House that no hon. Member is giving me notice when he gives notice to the Table Office. I have my own office. If the hon. Gentleman wishes to give notice of a point of order, he should contact my office.

§ Mr. Dalyell
The last thing that I wish is to be discourteous in any way to you, Mr. Speaker. There has been a genuine misunderstanding. Following the oral question No. 1 to the Prime Minister tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Eton and Slough (Miss Lestor), the following blocking answer was received from the right hon. Lady: However, if it comes to organising a rescue operation, any country that was thinking of it would be very ill-advised to reveal it, even in confidence, to a large number of other nations. Her response to my hon. Friend was as follows: With regard to the hon. Lady's first point, I do not wish to get myself into a position where I have to confirm or deny movement through allied bases."—[Official Report, 29 April 1980; Vol. 983, c. 1144.] As you will recollect, Mr. Speaker, I raised with you privately the legitimacy of the Prime Minister's block on questions. I was the hon. Member to whom you referred in your ruling on I May. You said to my hon. Friend the Member for Workington (Mr. Campbell-Savours): I have already ruled privately to one hon. Member who wrote to me on this matter. It will, therefore, be out of order for supplementary questions that would not be in order for the Order Paper to be put on this question to the Prime Minister or, indeed, to any other Minister concerning movements in such bases "—[Official Report, 1 May 1980; Vol. 983, c. 1641.] You amplified that point, Mr Speaker, in your courteous letter to me on 1 May.
Yesterday, Mr. Speaker, in your ruling, you told me: Any question on this subject must therefore be tested against that refusal by the Table Office and, if the question is referred to me, by myself. Obviously I cannot rule on particular questions until I have considered them, and I am sure that the House would not expect me to comment on any hypothetical questions that hon. Members might have in mind."—[Official Report, 6 May 1980; Vol. 984, c. 35–36.] So, Mr. Speaker, explaining to the Table Office Clerks candidly exactly what I was up to, I tabled the following question for Friday 9 May to the Secretary of State for Defence: 284 whether he will list the route and stopping points used by Hercules aircraft carrying vehicles for the Cambodian relief operation, listing the dates on which it stopped in Cyprus. That question was accepted by the Table Office and it remains on the Order Paper. How is it that, since Cyprus is an allied base, that innocent question stands, while the less innocent question on Diego Garcia falls? Is there one rule for questions about what are arguably British bases, and another rule for what would be called Anglo-American bases? If so, it would be a service to the House to make it explicit before we go further along the lines of discussion on the siting of cruise missiles in East Anglia.
If a Prime Minister resorted to a blocking device for overriding reasons of our relations with other countries, I would not complain too much. However, it can hardly be said by a Prime Minister who is hell-bent on sanctions against Iran that she does not want foreknowledge of the use of British territory to embarrass out relations with the Iranians. If that was what she was concerned about, she would not be—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. The reasons for the Prime Minister's statements are her own affair and not mine. I cannot rule on the reasons for the Prime Minister's statement. I am listening with care to the hon. Gentleman because I want to do him the courtesy of hearing him out. He treats me with courtesy, as do all hon. Members, for which I am grateful.

§ Mr. Dalyell
It looks as if the block has been imposed to avoid political embarrassment at home. The truth is emerging that it is inconceivable that the Prime Minister did not know about the American operation in the Iranian desert.

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I promise to consider the point that the hon. Gentleman has made. The whole House has the substance of his point of order, namely, whether there is a blocking and whether I can do something about it. That is the question. I shall examine it and make a statement tomorrow.