HC Deb 27 January 1995 vol 253 c589

[MADAM SPEAKER in the Chair]

9.34 am
Mr. Andrew Mackinlay (Thurrock)

On a point of order, Madam Speaker. Have you received a request from the Secretary of State for Defence to make a statement later today, or would you allow him to do so, to clarify the apparent conflict and embarrassment that arises from the fact that his parliamentary private secretary, the hon. Member for Norfolk, North-West (Mr. Bellingham), has declared in the Register of Members' Secretaries and Research Assistants that Mr. John Kennedy of John Kennedy Associates, a public relations firm, is his researcher or secretary?

I draw the matter to your attention because John Kennedy has been the spokesperson for the unrecognised Bosnian Serb Government and for Radovan Karadzic in London. Clearly, on the face of it, there is an acute conflict of interest and it is an embarrassment to the Secretary of State in his difficult diplomatic task, at home and abroad, of promoting the interests of the United Kingdom and carrying out the necessary international brokerage to reduce the problems of that dreadful conflict. We need some clarity and a statement today to explain that link.

Madam Speaker

That is a rather convoluted point of order. The Government have not informed me that they want to make a statement today, although there is time for them to do so, should they so wish. If that is the case, time will be set aside.

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