Clause 60
Postal Services Bill
1:45 pm
Edward Vaizey (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Culture, Communications and Creative Industries), Business, Innovation and Skills; Wantage, Conservative)
I am grateful to have the chance to respond to the comments made by the hon. Members for Llanelli and for Angus. I begin by welcoming the hon. Member for Llanelli; it is a great opportunity to be reunited with her after five years. Of course, I am fond of Llanelli because it is the birthplace of Michael Howard, my former boss and one of the great leaders of the Conservative party, now safely ensconced in the other place. If Llanelli can produce two such political Titans as Michael Howard and the hon. Lady it must be a very special place, and I hope that one day I might be part of a party that goes to Llanelli to unveil statues, both to Mr Howard and to the hon. Lady. [Interruption.] I note the indications of assent from the Opposition Benches.
I welcome the comments of the hon. Member for Angus. If I may be so bold, I was surprised by the tone of both interventions, although I am probably—almost certainly—being unfair. The hon. Member for Llanelli gave an almost poetic homage to the monarchy and Her Majesty the Queen, with which I completely agreed. The other day, I read that our current Prime Minister had camped out for the royal wedding when he was a teenager. Frankly, after the hon. Lady’s intervention, I would not be surprised to see her camping out for the wedding, or indeed sitting in the front row in Westminster abbey, courtesy of a personal invitation from Her Majesty. It really was a superbly royalist speech with which I completely concurred.
Then we had the support of the hon. Member for Angus for the United Kingdom; a kingdom united by one postal service and one stamp. At the same time, he recognised the different traditions and parts of the United Kingdom.