Clause 42 - Guidance on Requirements
Consumer Credit Bill
9:45 am
Mr Alistair Burt (Parliamentary Private Secretaries To Leader of the Opposition; North East Bedfordshire, Conservative)
May I say, Mr. Benton, how much I welcome being under your guidance this morning? I apologise to the Committee for not being here for the earlier parts of this important Bill. I particularly welcome the presence of the Minister. He and I go back many years, largely through our friendship on the football pitch. We have been regular performers, if I can use that word in the context of the parliamentary football team. The Minister has established an excellent reputation as a stopper of first rank. Between the sticks, I must say that the Minister's skills at preventing things getting past him have become legendary in the dressing room. Seeing him in action and how he manages to hold up the skilful interventions of my hon. Friend the Member for Tewkesbury, I realise that his powers of stopping things are not confined to the football pitch. It is a great pleasure to see a friend in that position.