§ Mr. Alan Williams (Swansea, West)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I realise that this is a slightly unusual point of order and I equally realise, as the Leader of the House told us on Thursday, that the timing of the publication of the report of the Select Committee on Defence on the Westland scandal is a matter for the Committee's Chairman. However, I am convinced that the Chairman has done everything in his power to expedite the publication of that report and that is why I bring the matter to you.
I submit that for three reasons we are in a unique situation which requires your involvement, Mr. Speaker. After all, the House is going into recess for three months. Secondly, the Attorney-General, one of the most senior figures in our legal system, may find that he has to resign if it emerges that he, in his unique role, approved the charade of setting up a leak inquiry after having been told that that leak had been authorised by a senior fellow member of the Cabinet. Thirdly, it is unique because if the Attorney-General finds himself in such a situation, the Prime Minister becomes exposed and vulnerable.
Therefore, I submit that we cannot wait three months before the House determines the culpability of the Attorney-General and the Prime Minister, particularly as during those three months hon. Members will be deprived of the protection of the privileges of Parliament.
For those reasons, it is in everyone's interests that the House should have the maximum time to study all the evidence, not just to have the report in front of them, before Thursday's Prime Minister's questions and the debates on the motion for the summer Adjournment and the Consolidated Fund.
In that unusual combination of circumstances, and as you are the custodian of the interests of the House, Mr. Speaker, is there any way in which the weight of your office can assist the efforts that I know have already been made by the Chairman to secure the earliest possible publication of the report, possibly the day or even the evening before, so that hon. Members can study it overnight?
§ Mr. SpeakerThe point of order really is not for me. As the right hon. Gentleman said, this is entirely a matter for the Chairman of the Select Committee on Defence and I have no influence over when he decides to lay his report. If he wants to lay it before Thursday, presumably he can do so.
§ Mr. David Winnick (Walsall, North)Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. May I raise briefly a matter about which you have shown some sympathy on previous occasions when matters have been debated outside, in broadcasting and the press? It goes without saying that the report of the Select Committee on Defence will receive extensive coverage. No doubt we shall switch on our television sets and see hon. Members debating with each other and so on. Yet for 10 or 11 weeks the House will not be able to debate the most important document on Government administration that has been published, which everyone recognises is virtually a time-bomb ticking away under the Government. Is not that a grotesque situation?
§ Mr. SpeakerThe solution is in the hands of the House. The summer Adjournment motion will be debated on Thursday. The simple issue is whether the House adjourns or does not adjourn. If the hon. Gentleman and other hon. Members feel strongly about this matter, the solution is in their hands. I cannot do anything about that.