HC Deb 13 March 1989 vol 149 cc20-2
68. Mr. Skinner

To ask the Lord President of the Council whether he is able to announce the date for the televising of the proceedings of the House; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Wakeham

No, Sir. This is a matter for the House to decide on the basis of the report of the Select Committee.

Mr. Skinner

Is the right hon. Gentleman telling us that the Budget debate will not be televised tomorrow? The Chancellor of the Exchequer said in his Budget speech last year that that would be the last untelevised Budget debate. Has he got it wrong again? He got the balance of payments deficit wrong—it was to be £4 billion and has reached £14.3 billion. He got interest rates wrong; he got mortgages wrong; he has got nearly every sum in his book wrong. Who is holding up the television job? Is it the Prime Minister?

Mr. Wakeham

If the substance of the hon. Gentleman's complaint against my right hon. Friend the Chancellor is that he said that the Budget debate would be on television but that it is not to be televised the hon. Gentleman must be short of something to say. I believe that the truth is that he cannot wait to become a television star himself. Perhaps I should remind him that there is a vacancy for the part of Dirty Den in a certain television soap opera.