§ Mr. Tam Dalyell (Linlithgow)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. In view of the resignation now of Mrs. Jutta Burghardt, the United Nations food programme director in Baghdad, and previously of Hans von Sponeck and Denis Halliday, two very senior international civil servants, on matters of principle over what is happening to the children of Iraq, have you had any request for an answer to Question 18 to the Prime Minister, or any request from the Foreign Office to make a statement?
§ Madam SpeakerThe hon. Gentleman is taking a little advantage. I have seen his question on the Order Paper and, like many others, it was not reached. To answer him factually, I have not been told that any Minister is seeking to make a statement today.
§ Sir Raymond Powell (Ogmore)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. My point of order is directed to you and is not a bogus point of order.
§ Madam SpeakerThat makes a change.
§ Sir Raymond PowellLast week, you commented in reply to a point of order that you are in daily and weekly conversation with the Presiding Officers of the Welsh Assembly and the Scottish Parliament. Could you use your influence with, and attachment to, the Presiding Officer of the Welsh Assembly to share some of your knowledge and experience gained over the years, especially of being an impartial Speaker—as every right hon. and hon. Member applauds and appreciates? Could you take him to your bosom and convince him that it is a necessity when he is presiding to be impartial and not to show his Welsh nationalist connections? Those connections showed last week in the Assembly debate, and most people in Wales were absolutely disgusted at the attitude that the Presiding Officer took.
§ Madam SpeakerAnd I thought that was going to be a genuine point of order. Of course I am in touch from time to time with the Presiding Officers of the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly, but I always wait to be invited before giving advice. I think that that is a wise way to proceed.
§ Sir David Madel (South-West Bedfordshire)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. I wish to seek your guidance on answers given by the Foreign Secretary yesterday on the intergovernmental conference. In relation to Cyprus's application to join the European Union, he said:
The principle of freedom of movement will certainly apply to all applicant countries when they succeed in becoming members.However, in a later answer, he said:Freedom of movement between the Republic of Cyprus and the occupied northern sector would apply only if Turkey simultaneously joined the European Union."—[Official Report, 15 February 2000; Vol. 344, c. 778–81.]That is a contradiction, and I wondered whether at 7 o'clock we could take a little break and have a statement from the Foreign Secretary
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. The hon. Gentleman is a longstanding Member and he knows full well that that is a matter for argument and is by no means a point of order.