§ Miss Ann Widdecombe (Maidstone and The Weald)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. [Interruption.]
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. The right hon. Lady is making a point of order.
§ Miss WiddecombeThank you, Mr. Speaker. I have given notice of this point of order to you and also to the Home Secretary.
I do not want to make any further comment on matters concerning the former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. However, there are issues surrounding what happened in the Home Office after his representation was made. There are also issues about what action was taken after that representation, whether the representation had any bearing on the seemingly extraordinary speed with which the application was then settled and what records exist in the Home Office of the various conversations that occurred. Have you received any request from the Home Secretary for the opportunity to make a statement to clear the matter up once and for all?
§ Mr. SpeakerI have received no requests from the Home Secretary.
§ Dr. Julian Lewis (New Forest, East)Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. The Prime Minister, being a pretty straight kind of guy, informed the House that he has rightly set up an inquiry into the events surrounding the resignation of the former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Has your office received any indication from his office about whether the report containing the 926 results of that inquiry will be rendered to the House before, during or only after any election campaign that the Prime Minister is minded to initiate?
§ Mr. SpeakerNo.
§ Sir Peter Emery (East Devon)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I apologise for not giving you notice of this point of order, which arises from Question Time. I think that the House applauds you for trying to ensure that questions and answers are shorter. One understands the position of new Members, but most hon. Members have now been in the House for two or three years. Would not it greatly help the House if hon. Members began by asking a question and not by providing a large roll call of events before they do so? Cannot we get questions and answers to be as they are meant to be: short and concise?
§ Mr. SpeakerI am pleased that the right hon. Gentleman has raised that matter, which, as he will know, I put to the House shortly before Christmas. It is not only the newer Members who are guilty of the actions to which he refers, but also some of the most senior, although I do not, of course, refer to him.
§ Mr. David Lidington (Aylesbury)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. As you know, it has occasionally been the practice that, when the Government announce an inquiry, Ministers use it as a reason not to give substantive answers to parliamentary questions about the subjects that the inquiry is investigating. Can you take steps to discover whether Ministers intend to use the inquiry to block answering any parliamentary questions until it reports? If that is their intention, can you take steps to protect the interests of all hon. Members?
§ Mr. SpeakerI shall not inquire into Ministers' intentions. I am bound by the rules of the House, which the hon. Gentleman has helped to create. As long as Ministers and hon. Members keep to those rules, I have nothing to say in such matters.