§ Mr. Tam Dalyell (Linlithgow)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. May I ask your help with a matter, about which I gave you notice this morning, relating to documents for the coming debate? It may be within the recollection of the House that on 6 January the Law Officers wrote a letter to the right hon. Member for Henley (Mr. Heseltine). It was partly and selectively leaked. For the purposes of greater accuracy, I went to the Library this morning to ask for the complete letter so that one could look at it in full and not selectively. The Library, with its normal efficiency and courtesy, found that it did not have the letter. The Library then rang the Law Officers' Department, which said that higher authority would have to be consulted before it could give me the letter. When higher authority was consulted, lo and behold, the letter was not forthcoming. The House does not have the full text of that letter. It is extremely unsatisfactory to make decisions or speeches on the basis of selectively leaked letters. I wonder whether there is any way in which you can manage to get before the House the full text of the letter written by the Law Officers and sent to the former Secretary of State for Defence.
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. I cannot help the hon. Member. Whether the Government choose to put a letter before the House is entirely a matter for them. I believe that the Leader of the House wishes to say something.
§ The Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. John Biffen)So that we may keep these matters in perspective, may I say that in no sense do I represent higher authority. The House will appreciate that there are conventions relating to advice from the Law Officers. I can inform the House that the Solicitor-General has authorised publication of his letter of 6 January to the then Secretary of State for Defence, and arrangements are being made for it to be made available to the House later this afternoon.