§ LORD SNELLMy Lords, I ask permission of your Lordships to call attention to statements which have appeared in a prominent London newspaper which my noble friends consider reflect upon their conduct as members of your Lordships' House. In the issue of last Sunday, the newspaper concerned made three specific statements: (1) That some of the Labour Peers are very poor; (2) that they are starting an agitation to persuade the Government to pay them a salary; (3) that they are trying to persuade some prominent Labour member to state their case in the House of Commons. As a result of inquiries which have been made, I beg to say that to the best of our belief the only one of those statements that is true is the one which states that some of us are very poor—a disadvantage, I think, which implies no dishonour to us—
§ LORD SNELL—and, we hope, no disadvantage to your Lordships. My personal preference was to ignore these statements altogether as just one more illustration of the sabotage of character to which members of the Labour Party have grown accustomed, but I am advised that inasmuch as they reflect upon our conduct as members of your Lordships' House, they should be formally repudiated. I can well believe that the intention of the writer was to contrast the position of members of your Lordships' House with that of members in another place doing similar work, but the suggestion that we are canvassing members of the House of Commons in order to 532 secure for us financial benefits is definitely untrue and injurious to us as members of your Lordships' House. Should Parliament ever decide to give salaries to members of your Lordships' House, I am sure that my noble friends and I would be among those who would try to earn them. But the statement that we are asking Parliament to put upon us the humiliation of preferential treatment has no basis in fact, and we resent its being made. The disadvantages under which this little group try to perform a public duty are recognised in all parts of the House, but if in addition to these difficulties we are regarded as using our position here to tout for financial benefits, the situation will become intolerable. Some of us may have to consider whether we can continue to attend. I venture to express the hope that your Lordships will accept my denial of the truth of these statements—
§ LORD SNELL—and also respect our wish that no action be taken in regard to them.
§ THE LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (VISCOUNT HALIFAX)My Lords, perhaps it would be appropriate that I should say one word in regard to what has just fallen from the noble Lord opposite. I am afraid that I had not seen the paragraphs in question, not being an assiduous reader of the Sunday Press, until my attention was drawn to them, and my first reaction when my attention was so drawn was to reflect that if all those in public life were to feel it incumbent upon them to correct every misstatement in the Press, they would have little spare time for the work that properly must engage their attention. I think, however, that the noble Lord—as indeed he made plain in his statement—has been much more actuated by the possibility of misunderstanding being created outside among those who are not familiar with public life, as most of us are here, and that he has accordingly been justly careful to do what lay in his power to correct what he has described as an aspersion upon the position of himself and his friends. He used the phrase "sabotage of character." I think that he can rest assured that there is no feeling of that sort in this House towards either himself or any of his colleagues who sit opposite.
§ VISCOUNT HALIFAXI think it is one of the most fortunate attributes of this House, at least, that however much we may differ upon the ordinary issues of Party differences, yet in regard to our general work in this House we can truly think of ourselves as a band of comrades working, with whatever differences, to promote ends that we consider are those which we should try to seek. My Lords, I have one other word, and one only. If the noble Lord opposite and his friends have any thought that the statement to which he has referred in any way reflected upon their character as members of the House and upon the work they do here, they can feel sure that the feeling in all parts of the House will be with them in the statement that the noble Lord has made. We appreciate to the full the difficulties under which they do their work here. They can be sure of the support of members in all parts of the House, in whatever part they sit, in their loyalty both to the House and to the work which they do in it.