§ Mr. Patrick Cormack (Staffordshire, South)In the light of the answers to Questions 34 and 35, I beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House, under Standing Order No. 20, to discuss a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration, namely,
The need to take immediate action to compel Saddam Hussein to allow international assistance to the Kurdish refugees and to the civilian population of Iraq.The matter is specific and important, as no one who heard the answers to those questions could deny. The Minister revealed the continued brutal obduracy of Saddam Hussein and the revolutionary guard. The matter deserves to take priority over the business set down either for today or tomorrow. People are suffering unspeakable hardship, entirely because of the tyrannical cruelty of a dictator who is condemned throughout the world, against whom the House has many times expressed unanimous revulsion and against whom the world went to war. It is essential that those to whom Saddam Hussein still allows no safe haven should again command not only the sympathy but the resolution of a united Parliament and its support for international action to bring a true hope of peace to a shattered country and all its unhappy people.
§ Mr. SpeakerThe hon. Gentleman seeks leave to move the Adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter which he believes should have urgent consideration, namely,
The need to take urgent action to compel Saddam Hussein to allow international assistance to the Kurdish refugees and to the civilian population of Iraq.I have listened with concern to the hon. Gentleman. As he knows, I have to decide whether the matter that he has raised should be given precedence over the business set down for today or tomorrow. I regret that I cannot rule that his application meets those requirements and I therefore cannot submit his application to the House.
§ Mr. Jonathan Sayeed (Bristol, East)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. During questions on the statement, you called my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Mr. Beaumont-Dark) and the hon. Member for Newport, West (Mr. Flynn), neither of whom was here for the statement. Will you please explain the decision—
§ Mr. SpeakerNo, I shall not explain my decision. By raising such a matter, the hon. Member is being impertinent. He must not raise such points of order just because he was not called. That will not do him any good.
§ Mr. SayeedThe point of order is this. Is it normal to call hon. Members who have not heard the statement on which they are asking questions?
§ Mr. SpeakerNo, it is not normal, and if I did so today it was in error. However, I still resent what the hon. Gentleman said.