§ 2.56 p.m.
EARL JELLICOEMy Lords, it may be for the convenience of the House if I explain to your Lordships now it is intended that the debate shall be conducted this afternoon. Noble Lords will have noticed that the noble Lord, Lord Ca radon, will be moving his Amendment at the end of the debate. The reason is a simple one: that had it been moved at the beginning technically we should have found ourselves bound in the debate to the rather more narrow terms of the Amendment. As it is, I hope noble Lords will feel free to speak either or. 423 defence and foreign affairs or to the Amendment, or indeed to both, and I hope this arrangement will commend itself to your Lordships. May I just mention that there are 28 speakers due to speak to-day and I am sure most noble Lords would wish that the Division should take place at a not unduly late hour and that therefore, as always, there is a need for brevity.
§ LORD SHACKLETONMy Lords, I thought the noble Earl was going to answer a Question about the giant hog-weed. The arrangements which he suggests are, I am sure, entirely acceptable to the Opposition. Arrangements are never exactly right to suit everyone, but so long as noble Lords will restrain themselves from exercising the right to speak on the Amendment I am sure that this is the most sensible way to proceed, and they will be free to speak to it in the general debate. I should like to support the noble Earl's plea for brevity.
EARL JELLICOEMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord. I will only mention that I have been a keen, but I am now only a timorous, cultivator of the giant hog weed.