§ LORD SHACKLETONMy Lords, before we begin our business, I should like to congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Windlesham, the new Leader of the House and Lord Privy Seal. We congratulate him very sincerely on assuming the great responsibilities of a job which is not always easy but which is, none the less, very rewarding. At the same time, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Young, on her meteoric career and on becoming a Parliamentary Under-Secretary. There have been a number of other changes, moving sideways to the noble Lord, Lord Sandford, and the noble Lord, Lord Belstead, and we wish them luck in their new posts.
In congratulating the noble Lord, Lord Windlesham, we note that he is taking on at a difficult time; and I should like to express sympathy to the Front Bench and the Party opposite, and indeed to the whole House, for the loss we have 2 all sustained in the departure of Lord Jellicoe—
§ SEVERAL NOBLE LORDS: Hear, hear!
§ LORD SHACKLETON—who has been as good a Leader of this House as we have known. I do not think we can let him go—though happily this is not an epitaph—without expressing our very deep sorrow, and indeed our thanks for his services to the House and to the country. It is one of the happy aspects of our political life in this country that it is possible to have friends in different Parties. Lord Jellicoe has been a personal friend of mine for many years; and while it is inappropriate to refer, and I have no intention of referring, to the circumstances that led to his resignation (nor, naturally, to the Security Commission), I have no doubt that in the debate on Privacy tomorrow, which the noble Lord, Lord Byers, is moving, something will be said about the quite extraordinary performance of certain newspapers in this matter.
§ SEVERAL NOBLE LORDS: Hear, hear!
§ LORD SHACKLETONBut I shall leave that. I should like to say one other thing. This House, because there is no one here with the powers of a Speaker as in another place, depends for its successful operation on the degree of cooperation between all Members of the House; and behind the scenes, inevitably, as I found as Leader of the House, one has to co-operate a great deal with the Leader of the Opposition. For that 3 reason, I probably know as well as anyone, if not better, with what immense thoroughness, patience and personal sensitivity Lord Jellicoe fulfilled his role as Leader of your Lordships' House. Lord Byers and I both had to work with him very closely at the time of House of Lords reform. We found him an admirable, open-minded and wise colleague; and what is interesting is the extent to which he himself succeeded in introducing at least some of the procedural reforms that we talked about at that time. Following the setting up of the Aberdare Committee, appointed on his initiative, we had mini-debates, clocks and a regular turnover of Committees. Again, it was because he took the initiative that we had the setting up of one of the first Select Committees that we have had of its kind, the Sport and Recreation Committee.
Furthermore, during the difficult period in the last Session, when the House of Lords was overwhelmed with work—and it was not the fault of the noble Earl, Lord Jellicoe; it was the fault of the Government—he fought manfully in our interests, and I am bound to say that he achieved success. One of the jobs of the Leader of the House is to ensure that this House, which has an important job to do, is not just forgotten, and that means that one has to have a strong voice arguing our interests, so that we may do our job properly—and Lord Jellicoe provided that.
Equally, I know, because he succeeded me at the Civil Service Department, how firmly he continued the reforms which had been initiated under the previous Government, how far he carried them through, and with what regret his departure has been received both by officials and by the trade union side. On one occasion, one noble Lord said that in Lord Jellicoe's concern for Members of the House of Lords and for our conditions he was the best shop steward the House of Lords had ever had; and I know that, equally, he took a deep interest in the Parliament Office.
My Lords, I believe that we and the country have suffered a grievous loss. I want to say no more than that I agree with what Dick Crossman wrote in The Times the other day, when he said: 4
The Government have lost one of the bravest, most competent and most humane men in their company".In welcoming the new Leader, I am sure we should all agree that we hope very much that Lord Jellicoe, and indeed his loyal wife, Lady Jellicoe, will be in our midst again, and that we shall not lose the benefit of the services which I believe he can still render to your Lordships' House.
§ 2.43 p.m.
§ LORD BYERSMy Lords, I wish to support very sincerely everything said by the noble Lord, Lord Shackleton. First of all, may I from these Benches offer many congratulations to the noble Lord, Lord Windlesham. His work at the Home Office and, more recently, in Northern Ireland has well earned him the promotion which has now come to him. If I may say so, his manner and personality have always commended him to all parts of your Lordships' House. This, I believe, is a virtue which we need in a Leader of the House. I wish him success in his very well-deserved appointment.
I want to echo everything which Lord Shackleton said about the noble Earl, Lord Jellicoe. We on these Benches regret bitterly his resignation. I worked closely with the noble Earl and with the noble Lord, Lord Shackleton, for six years and I, too, regard him as a personal friend. He was a reforming innovator, and the House owes a great deal more than it probably knows to the interest he took in this House and to his initatives. Many improvements and experiments took place under his leadership. He has done a great deal for the Members of this House and particularly to promote better relations with another place. For that particularly I deeply regret his going, and I echo Lord Shackleton's hope that his absence from this House will not be unduly prolonged.
§ LORD STRANGMy Lords, I want warmly to support what has been said by the noble Lords, Lord Shackleton and Lord Byers. There are three grounds on which I want to speak about George Jellicoe: First, as an ex-colleague in the Foreign Service. Very early in his career he came to Moscow as one of my assistants at a conference with the Russians. 5 There he marked himself out at once as someone who was willing to take infinite trouble on any matter that he set his hands to. Then later, when he was Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Housing and Local Government and I was Chairman of the National Parks Commission, he was called upon to take the chair of a Committee appointed to thresh out a highly controversial matter relating to the demand for water in the Lake District National Park. With characteristic care and a happy touch of compromise he brought that operation to a successful conclusion. Then again, when he became the Minister for the Civil Service and the Leader of your Lordships' House, I had one or two rather delicate matters to treat with him. On each occasion he was willing, as always, to take infinite trouble and always to see the human aspect of the case. The words which Lord Shackleton used, "thoroughness and patience", are most apt in this regard. To some of us it had been a comfort to have had Lord Jellicoe as Leader. I doubt whether he realises how much we shall miss him. We have been deeply saddened by what has happened. The outstanding record of his achievements will not be dimmed; our warm regard for him will remain.
My Lords, as regards the noble Lord, Lord Windlesham, he knows how highly we regard him; he knows how high he stands in our regard; he knows that we welcome his appointment; he knows that he can be assured of our sympathy and our support.
§ LORD BROCKWAYMy Lords, may I, as a Back Bencher, first express my congratulations to the noble Lord, Lord Windlesham, with whom I have often been in controversy and, further, regarding the noble Earl, Lord Jellicoe, say how much those of us on the Back Benches have appreciated his unfailing kindness, his tolerance towards those who held different views and his quite extraordinary sensitivity to the views of the House as a whole, and how much we regret his departure.
§ 2.48 p.m.
§ THE LORD PRIVY SEAL (LORD WINDLESHAM)My Lords, it falls to me to acknowledge the very generous tributes paid from all parts of the House to my noble friend Lord Jellicoe who led your 6 Lordships' House with such distinction for three years. I will pass on to him these tributes, and in so doing I will report to him the affection and friendliness with which they were expressed. To this side of the House, my noble friend was the leader of our Party as well as the Leader of the House as a whole, and we have good reason to know and to value his invariable patience and courtesy, his gaiety and his respect for the opinions of noble Lords even if he did not agree with those opinions. These, I would suggest, are the marks of an outstanding Parliamentarian, one whose gifts and skill we shall miss very much on this Front Bench. My noble friend Lord Jellicoe, as we know, has a light touch. He would not wish us to be too solemn to-day. He would prefer: "No flowers, by request "—and to move on to the next business.
Before doing so, I must thank the four noble Lords who have spoken for their generous references to me. The only thing that I should like to say is that to be appointed as Leader of the House I regard quite simply as the greatest privilege any Member of this House can have bestowed upon him. It is a function which is, I suppose, unique in Parliamentary systems. That the Office has endured for so long and that it is held in such high regard to-day is a tribute both to the men who have held it and to the wisdom and good sense of the Peers who at any one time have constituted the House of Lords. I shall certainly do everything in my power to further the interests of the House during the time that I have the great honour to be your Lordships' Leader.