Personal Statement (Mr. Ernie Ross) (Hansard, 12 July 1999)

With your permission, Madam Speaker, I shall make a personal statement.

The Select Committee on Standards and Privileges, in its eighth report published on 29 June 1999, considered the first special report of the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs on a premature disclosure of reports on Sierra Leone. The Standards and Privileges Committee concluded that my action as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee in making available to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office a draft of the Committee report was a serious interference with the select committee system", and that my conduct fell below the standards that the House was entitled to expect from its Members.

I believe that all hon. Members should accept reports of the House that are critical of them, and of course I do so. I therefore apologise to the House for my actions in this matter. With your permission, Madam Speaker, I shall now withdraw from the House.