§ Mr. James Wray (Glasgow, Baillieston)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. I refer to Home Office questions yesterday, during which my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Maryhill (Mrs. Fyfe) asked the Home Secretary whether he was aware that one of the promoters of the Tyson fight was a man who
has a violent criminal past and has connections with Glasgow's criminal underworld.—[Official Report, 22 May 2000; Vol. 350, c. 656.]I wish to make it clear to the House that the man in question is not a co-promoter. There is only one promoter and that is Sports Network. The man is one of my constituents and his family and friends, who were very upset by the allegations, contacted me to say that he is a hard-working man with a haulage contractor's business. He gets up at 6 am and gets home at 7 pm. They are very disappointed that he should be so maligned.To give the House an insight into the type of person the man is, I can list some of the donations that he has made to charities throughout Scotland. He gave £30,000 to Clippen school for the disabled, £9,000 to the Lockerbie disaster fund, £8,000 to a sick children's hospital, £7,000 to Father Bob Gardiner in Easterhouse, and £6,500 to Rev. Galbraith, for Kosovo. He has also paid for a drug addict's funeral and trucked four tonnes of food to Croatia.
That is the kind of man he is. He has connections not with the underworld, but with the underclass. There are many pages setting out the donations he has made and the assistance he has given, including helping the police to take food to Croatia. It is—
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. I must ask the hon. Gentleman to resume his seat. I am grateful to him. I have more than the gist of his point of order because he indicated earlier the nature of it. As he appreciates, it would not be appropriate for me to comment on the details of the issue that he raises. However, I know that he is concerned about the matter. In the light of that, I remind the House that we have a greatly valued privilege in terms of freedom of speech in this place. I have often reminded the House that with that privilege must go responsibility. It is incumbent on us all to use our privilege responsibly, especially when we refer to people outside the House who do not have a platform from which to respond. We must keep in mind the balance between our privilege and our responsibility when making comments.
§ Mrs. Maria Fyfe (Glasgow, Maryhill)Further to that point of order, Madam Speaker.
§ Madam SpeakerI can hardly allow a further point of order when I have already given guidance on our behaviour. However, I shall hear the hon. Lady.
§ Mrs. FyfeThank you, Madam Speaker. Of course I take note of the guidance that you have given. I merely wish to say, in case anyone is unaware of the position, that when I spoke yesterday I did not name names. I have no intention of naming names.
§ Madam SpeakerThank you.
§ Sir Peter Emery (East Devon)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. Due to the entirely inadequate 876 response—it was a non-reply—to my question from the Secretary of State for Defence, I give notice that I will raise the specific matter on the Adjournment as soon as possible.
§ Mr. Simon Burns (West Chelmsford)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. I seek your advice. The hon. Member for Colchester (Mr. Russell) failed to be present for Question 26 to the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department. The question concerns the courthouse in Colchester, which is of great importance to people in mid and north Essex.
Do you, Madam Speaker, believe that when Members fail to turn up to pose a question they have won in a selection process that that is discourteous to you, to our constituents and to the House? Did the hon. Gentleman notify you in advance that he would not be present for his question? If not, do you think that you are owed an apology?
§ Madam SpeakerI am sure that all hon. Members are aware that from time to time Members are not in their places to put questions that have been tabled. That does not show very good manners to the Minister who has to answer the question, to the Chair or to the House itself. However, a Member is often unable to be present for outside reasons. Members normally come to the Chair when they arrive in the House to apologise when they are late, or I receive a note from them. A Member apologised to me today because his train was an hour late. These are not political point-scoring matters. I understand that for many reasons Members on both sides of the House often find it impossible to get here and impossible to withdraw their question in time.
§ Mr. Quentin Davies (Grantham and Stamford)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. I wonder whether you can help me and other Members, who I fear may be in exactly the same position, by giving some advice on how one can secure timely answers from Departments without every time asking you for an Adjournment debate.
I have a sad and urgent case involving two of my constituents, Mr. and Mrs. Money of Corby Glen in Lincolnshire, and their son David, who has been seriously handicapped from the age of six months following inappropriate vaccination. The family have been waiting for compensation for a long time. I wrote to the Under-Secretary of State for Social Security on this matter on 22 February. There has still been no response despite many attempts to get one. The Halifax bank is about to dispossess the family from their house because they cannot pay the mortgage. They have been waiting to no avail for compensation, or even a response, for a long time.
§ Madam SpeakerThe hon. Gentleman may be aware that some weeks ago I raised such issues with the Cabinet Secretary and the Minister for the Cabinet Office. I used my best endeavours with those two individuals. I know that they are taking all steps to try to improve the situation. The fact that the hon. Gentleman has raised his point of order may speed things up.