HC Deb 09 December 1999 vol 340 cc1017-21

2 pm

The President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Mrs. Margaret Beckett)

I beg to move, That this House expresses its appreciation of Peter Nevile Wake Jennings Esq, CVO for his 47 years distinguished public service, including four years as Serjeant at Arms, and extends to him its best wishes for his retirement. Hon. Members will see that this is a motion in the name of Members from both sides of the House, and it is right and proper that that should be so. Members of all parties are joining together to thank Peter Jennings for his long and distinguished service to this House.

Peter Jennings' career in public service is quite neatly divided. He spent 24 years in the Royal Marines, and 23 in the service of the House. I am not entirely sure how much life has changed in the Royal Marines since 1952—probably rather less than life in the House of Commons has changed since he joined us in 1976, a few years before most Members present for the debate today will have been elected.

When Peter Jennings came to work here, Members operated—usually not from choice—from areas such as the Cloisters. Hon. Members who had offices of their own were a select breed, as were those who were lucky enough to share an office. I myself was fortunate, as a new Member, to share one with a distinguished colleague who is now the Government's Chief Whip.

There have been vast improvements in the House's accommodation over the years and perhaps the culmination of those improvements, Portcullis house, is now near completion. Many in the House's service will have had a hand in that project, but the Serjeant does and should feel a proper pride that the development was built on his watch, so to speak, and particularly that it is now expected to come in on time and under budget. It is very much a memento of his service that as we come to the end of the 20th century, the House at last has been provided with a building fit for the modern age.

The House will know also that Peter Jennings has been the force behind the achievement of a smaller building project—again at the direction of the House. In May this year, there was a vote to hold sittings in Westminster Hall. It is easy for hon. Members to forget that we make decisions of this kind, and sometimes we overlook the vast amount of work necessary to enable them to be carried to fruition. Certainly, it is easier to overlook the scale of that work because of the sang froid that the Serjeant and his Department showed in reacting to a major change in their carefully worked out programme and to bringing forward works which had been planned to take place only in future years.

The outcome of our decision compelled the officers of the House to tear up expenditure plans after the onset of the financial year and to completely refit one of the major rooms in the Palace. It is a real and concrete tribute to the leadership of the Serjeant at Arms that the work was successfully completed in the time available, and again under budget. I know that many hon. Members on both sides feel that he presided over a smaller, but no less significant, reform, in the replacement of the House of Commons barber by a House of Commons hairdresser.

Members are aware of how seriously the House has always taken its links with other Parliaments. We have always been particularly concerned to promote co-operation between Commonwealth Parliaments, and to ensure that we have the opportunity to learn from one another. Peter Jennings was instrumental in ensuring that co-operation extended to Serjeants at Arms across the Commonwealth.

The first Commonwealth Serjeants at Arms conference was held in 1994 and the second in August 1999, with over 30 such Serjeants gathered together. That is, at first sight, a rather unnerving thought, given the Serjeants' tradition of carrying a sword. However, I am told that the only remarkable aspect was that the Serjeant from Tonga wore his country's customary dress of a skirt, unlike our own dear Serjeants, who wear tights.

I am sure that all hon. Members will join me in wishing to place firmly on record our great appreciation of the service that Peter Jennings has done this House, and of the courtesy and consideration with which that service has been performed. The House will join me in wishing him and his wife Shirley Anne a long and very happy retirement—as well as a happy Christmas—and in expressing our appreciation of all that they have done for us.

2.5 pm

Sir George Young (North-West Hampshire)

On behalf of the Opposition, I join the Leader of the House in her tribute to Peter Jennings, the 36th Serjeant at Arms since the post was established in 1415. During the 23 years that he has been here, there has been a quiet revolution in the way that the House operates, including a major improvement in the quality of accommodation; a huge extension of the security precautions; a big increase in the number of people working here and visiting Parliament; the introduction of broadcasting and new information technology; and, as the Leader of the House remarked, a major building and renovation programme. The House decided on all those changes, but they had to be implemented, which required a range of skills, from project management to people management. The Serjeant had those skills. He has overseen the successful introduction of those reforms for which the whole House is indebted to him. Behind the scenes, the Serjeant has also had to defuse many other issues, which mercifully never reach the public eye.

Peter Jennings has had a career of distinguished and selfless public service, lasting nearly 50 years. We wish him and his wife Shirley Anne a long and happy retirement in Fulham. We also hope that they continue to visit their many friends in Parliament and we are sure that when they do so, they will be waved through the security system each time.

2.6 pm

Mr. Paul Tyler (North Cornwall)

I am delighted to endorse this motion on behalf of my right hon. and hon. Friends and on behalf of several other parties represented in the House. As the Leader of the House said, the motion is endorsed by the leading members of eight parties, and that demonstrates the wide respect and appreciation that we all feel for Mr. Jennings.

As the Leader of the House and the right hon. Member for North-West Hampshire (Sir G. Young) mentioned, the changes that have taken place during Mr. Jennings' service to the House have been dramatic, not least in the security arrangements and the accommodation available to Members and their staff. The Leader of the House mentioned the accommodation she had when she first came to the House. When I was first elected, I had the end of a table in a room with seven Glaswegian Labour Members of Parliament. They did not understand a Cornishman and I did not understand them. The one telephone was nearest to my part of the room and I had to take messages on behalf of them all.

Dramatic changes have taken place in this House and we often do not understand, appreciate or pay respect to the work that is done by all servants of the House to make this building work efficiently in the interests of Parliament and parliamentary democracy. Mr. Jennings has led a professional, dedicated team over several years and this is a good opportunity for us all to express our appreciation to them.

2.8 pm

Mr. Tony Benn (Chesterfield)

I wish briefly to add my appreciation. When the House recognises the retirement of the Clerk, Librarian or Serjeant, we are for a moment referring to the people who make the parliamentary family work. I have been here longer than anyone who is present in the Chamber and I remember when I had only a locker, let alone a table. I was told that I could not bring a tape recorder into the House to dictate for my secretary, because that was illegal. I am the only Member of the House to have been kept out by force by the Serjeant when my blood had turned blue. More recently, I accidentally set fire to my room in the House of Commons by tapping out my pipe in my wastepaper basket. I had such a friendly message about it from the Serjeant that I felt really at home.

People outside do not realise the role the Serjeant plays. When a senior Member of Parliament is asked to arrange a meeting and says that he will have to clear it with the Serjeant, people from outside wonder who this mysterious person is who appears to run the place. All the room bookings, and the doorkeepers and attendants who keep the place going, are under the supervision of the Serjeant and I wish to express my personal thanks to him.

I have put up a bronze plaque to commemorate the work of the staff of the House, including the Serjeant. It was put up illegally, so it was taken down. It went up again, it was taken down again and—with the help of the hon. Member for South Staffordshire (Sir P. Cormack)— now has a permanent place near the Admission Order office. In that spirit, I join in the general thanks to Mr. Jennings.

2.9 pm

Mr. Peter Brooke (Cities of London and Westminster)

It is a great privilege to follow the right hon. Member for Chesterfield (Mr. Benn). My credentials for speaking are that Mr. Jennings is my constituent. I am extremely proud of all my constituents, but I am especially proud of Mr. Jennings for all the reasons that have been adduced by other right hon. and hon. Members in this debate.

I have a secondary and personal reason for wanting to contribute to this debate, of which the House may be aware. Mr. Jennings and I attended the same school for 14 terms. It is possible, therefore, that I have known him longer than any other hon. Member. I am a trustee of the school's old pupils club.

I think that I am right in saying that Mr. Jennings is the only person of his particular serving officer rank to hold the office of Serjeant at Arms. It is a great tribute to his personality and ability that he should have been so selected. Those of us who were at the school that Mr. Jennings and I attended also take vicarious credit from the effect that the school must have had on him.

2.10 pm
Mr. Nicholas Winterton (Macclesfield)

My reason for rising is that I am an evergreen Back Bencher. Perhaps more than most, therefore, I appreciate the work done by the Serjeant at Arms. My contribution to this short debate is a simple expression of thanks to Peter Jennings for the outstanding service that he has rendered to the House and to Back Benchers over the years that he has been with us.

I wish to thank him especially for the invariable courtesy and friendship with which he has undertaken his work. That was outlined in a simple way by the right hon. Member for Chesterfield (Mr. Benn). We shall miss him, and we wish him and his wife a very happy retirement.

2.11 pm
Mr. Jeremy Corbyn (Islington, North)

I confess that I did not attend the same school as the retiring Serjeant at Arms, but in my time in the House I have probably booked as many Rooms as any other hon. Member, and for a greater variety of organisations than most would care to remember. I wish to put on record my thanks to the Serjeant at Arms and his staff, who have always treated hon. Members and visiting members of the public with unfailing help and courtesy.

On one occasion, Amnesty International asked me to book a Room. When that filled up with 30 people, a different Room was booked, which filled up with 60 people, and so a third was booked, which filled up with 90 people. The transitions were seamless. Very rapidly, the whole building was taken over by human rights campaigners, but there was no problem at all because the Serjeant at Arms Department was so helpful. It is fitting, therefore, for hon. Members to express thanks for the work done on our behalf.

I mean no criticism of the retiring Serjeant at Arms at all, but I hope that the next incumbent will receive two instructions from the House. The first would be that space should be found in the House for a nursery, which could replace the rifle range or some other facility. The second would be that no staff of the Serjeant at Arms Department will be privatised or sent out to contract. I hope that the House will insist that all employees will be retained on proper terms and conditions, as they all should be.

I end by thanking the Serjeant at Arms very much for all his help and courtesy over the years.

2.13 pm
Ms Joan Walley (Stoke-on-Trent, North)

I, too, wish to put on record my personal thanks to Mr. Jennings. During his time in the House, he will have seen many women Members of Parliament arrive. The way in which he has dealt with our applications for improved facilities such as the Family Room is greatly appreciated. On behalf of many Back Benchers, I should like to express my thanks to him for all the work that he has done for this place.

Madam Speaker

The House is very grateful for those tributes.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved, That this House expresses its appreciation of Peter Nevile Wake Jennings Esq, CVO for his 47 years distinguished public service, including four years as Serjeant at Arms, and extends to him its best wishes for his retirement.