§ 2.36 p.m.
§ LORD CARRINGTONMy Lords, before we begin our Business this afternoon, I am sure it would be the wish of all your Lordships that we should express our sorrow at the news of the sudden death of Lady Gardiner. All of us, on whichever side of the House we sit, would, I know, wish to send to the Lord Chancellor and his family our deep and sincere sympathy at this sad time.
LORD REAMy Lords, from this quarter of the House, I, too, on behalf of my colleagues and myself, should like to add our most sincere sympathy for the Lord Chancellor in his grievous personal sorrow. As your Lordships know, the noble and learned Lord has not been a Member of your Lordships' House for very long, but in that time he has earned both our admiration and our affection. This tragedy in his domestic life touches us all. If I may just touch on a personal note, I have known him and had the privilege and pleasure of his friendship for nearly fifty years, since we were very young men together, first in the Army and then at Oxford. But, irrespective of time, of Party politics and even of his exalted position, we all share his grief, and we hope that such widespread and genuine sympathy may in some small way give him a little help.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (THE EARL OF LONGFORD)My Lords, if anything could bring any measure of consolation to the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor at this time, I am sure it would be the messages which have been conveyed, on behalf of the House, by the noble Lords, Lord Carrington and Lord 896 Rea, in such moving terms. The Lord Chancellor, as we all know, is the most modest of men, in spite of his wonderful gifts. He would be the last to recognise what an ascendancy he has, as Lord Rea said, gained in a short time over the minds and hearts of all your Lordships, just as Lady Gardiner would have laughed at the idea that she should be held in the affection in which she is in fact held by so many Members of the House who have quite recently come to know her well.
I will, of course, make sure that the message is carried to the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor con amore.