§ Mr. Tony Banks (Newham, North-West)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. During the exchange on Question No. 5 the hon. Member for Twickenham (Mr. Jessel) invited the Secretary of State for Transport to remove the posters on the back of London Regional Transport buses which now read, "GLC working for London" and replace them with posters reading, "GLC working for Moscow".
As a member of the GLC and of this House, I suggest that there is clear imputation in the hon. Gentleman's remarks that a Member of this House is acting in a treasonable fashion. Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I ask you to invite the hon. Member to withdraw that unwarranted smear against myself and my colleagues at County Hall.
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. I hope that the hon. Member for Twickenham (Mr. Jessel) did not intend to impute any dishonourable motive to the hon. Member for Newham, North-West (Mr. Banks). If he did, I am sure that he would wish to withdraw it.
§ Mr. Toby Jessel (Twickenham)As the Greater London council provides ratepayers' money to organisations which—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. That is not an answer to the question that I asked the hon. Member. What I said was that if he imputed any disreputable motive to the hon. Member for Newham, North-West he would wish to withdraw it. I do not think that he did. I am simply giving him an opportunity to say so.
§ Mr. JesselThere is, of course, nothing disreputable about the hon. Member for Newham, North-West. I am sure that if the effects of what he is doing are supported by Moscow, that is quite unintentional on his part.