Lockerbie Air Crash (Hansard, 16 March 1989)

§ Mr. John Prescott (Kingston upon Hull, East)
I beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House under Standing Order No. 20, for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter, that should have urgent consideration, namely the information withheld from the House concerning warnings received prior to the Lockerbie tragedy, which has this afternoon been disclosed on 'The World at One' radio programme.
The matter is urgent, in view of the great concern and growing confusion at the Secretary of State for Transport's role in handling airport security and the warnings received before the tragic loss of the Pan Am flight at Lockerbie, and in view of the latest disclosure today of early warnings that the Government received about the use of a radio cassette bomb, as outlined in the Daily Record and the Daily Mirror this morning.
It is specific in that, on today's BBC "World at One" radio programme, the hon. Member for Spelthorne (Mr. Wilshire) declared that he had been kept informed from authoritative sources on these warnings at a time when such information was being withheld from the House and not referred to in the statements mentioned by the Leader of the House this afternoon. It is important because it is now clear that those warnings were dismissed by the Secretary of State and by the Prime Minister herself. It is now horribly clear that the warnings actually identified the company, the type of plane, the route, the time and the way in which the explosive was contained in a radio cassette player.
Those facts alone justify, at the very least, a statement by the Government, followed by a debate, and then a public inquiry, which has so far been denied by the Prime Minister, feeding the view that there is a cover-up of the Government's inadequacies in dealing with airport security.

§ Mr. Speaker
The hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull, East (Mr. Prescott) asks leave to move the Adjournment of the House, under Standing Order No. 20, for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that he believes should have urgent consideration, namely, the information concerning warnings received prior to the Lockerbie tragedy, which has this afternoon been disclosed on `The World at One' radio programme.
As the House knows, under Standing Order No. 20, I have to take into account the requirements of the Standing Order and to announce my decision without giving reasons 556 to the House. I have listened with care to what the hon. Member has said. As he knows, my sole duty in considering an application under Standing Order No. 20 is to decide whether it should be given priority over the business already set down for this evening or on Monday. I regret that the matter that he has raised does not meet the requirements of the Standing Order. I therefore cannot submit his application to the House.

§ Mr. David Wilshire (Spelthorne)
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker.

§ Mr. Speaker
The hon. Member should not raise a point of order on that matter.

§ Mr. Wilshire
As I am new here, Mr. Speaker, I seek your guidance on this matter. Do the Standing Orders provide any way for an hon. Member who has been named, as I have been named, to nail half-truths and false information and to put the record straight?

§ Mr. Speaker
The hon. Member must find other opportunities for that.

§ Mr. Wilshire
Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker.

§ Mr. Speaker
No.

§ Mr. Wilshire
It is important. If I understand you correctly, Mr. Speaker, it is proper for me, if I give notice under Standing Order No. 20, to make whatever irresponsible claims I like, and no hon. Member would be able to answer me back? Is that what the Standing Order says?

§ Mr. Speaker
The hon. Gentleman has been here long enough to know that every right hon. and hon. Member must take responsibility for what he says. Provided that it is in order, I have no way of stopping it.

§ Mr. Wilshire
If that is so, Mr. Speaker, how on earth can I protect my constituents from the sort of allegations that have been made in respect of Heathrow?

§ Mr. Speaker
There are many ways. I am sure that many of the hon. Member's friends will guide him.