§ Mr. Jonathan Aitken (Thanet, South)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. May I seek your guidance on a point that has arisen out of the exchanges on business questions? I understood my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House to say that he did not feel it was a matter for him whether or not there should be any discussion about the fact that an hon. Member who had been co-chairman of a committee funded by a business interest should now be a member of a Select Committee that is listening to petitions which relate to that business interest. I think that my point was clear enough from the exchanges.
I was somewhat surprised by the reply of my right hon. Friend, because his office had guided me earlier by saying that this was likely to be a matter for him rather than a matter for you. However, as I received that reply from my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House, may I turn to you, Mr. Speaker, and ask this question? Clearly a genuine point of principle about Members' interests and how they should affect membership of Select Committees arises in this instance. To whom may I turn to obtain some kind of ruling in as neutral and friendly a way as possible?
§ Mr. SpeakerThe Leader of the House occasionally comes to my rescue, and I very nearly came to his rescue earlier. Since the hon. Gentleman has now raised that point with me, I can tell him that the House has entrusted the nomination of this Committee to the Committee of Selection, and I have no power to interfere. I assure the hon. Gentleman that the rule about the declaration of interests applies in Select Committees as it does in the House.