HC Deb 18 May 1982 vol 24 cc193-4
Mr. Tam Dalyell (West Lothian)

It is common ground that senior Ministers, and particularly the Prime Minister, should be accurately reported when they make statements in the House on sensitive subjects. In answer to a supplementary question by my hon. Friend the member for Glasgow, Cathcart (Mr. Maxton), the Prime Minister denied certain remarks, which I will not repeat, that she had been reported as having made in Scotland. Those of us who own car radios certainly understood her to say that she—

Mr. Speaker

Order. What is the point of order on which the hon. Gentleman seeks my ruling?

Mr. Dalyell

My point of order, Mr. Speaker, is to ask the Leader of the House, through you, if the—

Mr. Speaker

Order. The hon. Gentleman knows that he cannot use me as a messenger boy to the Leader of the House. That is just not done. If the hon. Gentleman wants to approach him, he knows what to do.

Mr. Dalyell

By some act of combustion or spontaneity, could not the Leader of the House, who knows very well what I am getting at, again say that he—

Mr. Speaker

Order. We have finished Prime Minister's Question Time.

Later—

Mr. Andrew Faulds (Warley, East)

Further to an earlier point of order, Mr. Speaker. I want to pursue not the specific point made by my hon. Friend the Member for West Lothian (Mr. Dalyell) but the more general principle of what happens when a Member is misquoted in the press or on the radio. [Interruption.] This is a serious matter even for the girl guides on the Conservative Benches. What recourse does the Prime Minister have if she is misquoted in the Scottish context and what recourse do ordinary Back-Bench Members have when they are repeatedly misquoted, or their quotes are made out of context, in the media?

I have only to put my own recent experience. You were good enough, Mr. Speaker, on a previous occasion when I raised a point of order, following a point of order by my hon. Friend the Member for West Lothian, to answer my detailed point in some detail. It was a reasonable extension of the matter that we were then discussing. When it came to be dealt with by the new breed of political commentators, some of the termites who sit upstairs in the Press Gallery—[HON. MEMBERS: "Oh!"]

Mr. Speaker

Order. With every respect to the hon. Member, I cannot take responsibility for the media. If hon. Members are misquoted, they must do their best to put the matter right, as the Prime Minister did this afternoon.

Mr. Faulds

I am not asking what you would do about this matter, Mr. Speaker. I am asking about the protection that hon. Members have if they are misquoted.

Mr. Speaker

Order. The House has some very important business before it today. I cannot help the hen. Gentleman. If he has been misquoted, he is experienced enough to know with whom he must deal.

Mr. Faulds

The matter to which I am referring reflects on you, Mr. Speaker, and as usual I am leaping to your defence. As I was trying to say when some of my colleagues inadvertently—[HON. MEMBERS: "…laughed."]—I raised with you a point of order which you answered in some detail. When it came to be discussed—[Interruption.] This is the freedom of speech that the lads on the Tory Benches love. When it was discussed in the columns of The Times by this commentator, he reported—

Mr. Speaker

Order. Will the hon. Gentleman submit a point of order to me? If not, I must ask him to resume his seat.

Mr. Faulds

If I may finish the story, Mr. Speaker you will see the purpose of it.

Mr. Speaker

Order. Let us move on to the Ten-Minute Bill.