Results 1-20 of 247 for in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates' speaker:Lord Grenfell

Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill: Committee (1st Day) (17 June 2013)

Lord Grenfell: My Lords, I will be extremely brief. I am not sure whether I prefer the amendment set down by the noble Lords, Lord Hylton and Lord Cormack, or the one set down by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay, but I believe that either of them would help bridge the divide. Therefore, I am generally in favour of both of them and would be happy with either. The only point I want to make is to refer...

Queen’s Speech — Debate (5th Day) (15 May 2013)

Lord Grenfell: My Lords, when I noted that my name was in the 50th position on the speakers list, I was minded to dig out an old after-dinner speech and seek to entertain your Lordships for a few minutes. However, I am very happy to note that the noble Lord, Lord Selsdon, in his inimitable way, has pre-empted me on that. With your Lordships’ indulgence I would like to say a few words by way of preface...

Procedure of the House — Motion to Take Note (24 April 2013)

Lord Grenfell: My Lords, I would like to be very brief. I have just three small points; or rather, they are not small, but I will try to put them briefly. Before I do so, I should say that I found the argument of the noble Lord, Lord Butler of Brockwell, very strong and, certainly for me, very convincing. First, I want to take up what the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, just said, which was reflected by the...

Liaison Committee — Motion to Agree (21 March 2013)

Lord Grenfell: My Lords, I would not like the plea of the noble Lord, Lord Jopling, for a foreign affairs committee to go unsupported by other Back-Benchers. I fully endorse his view; we need such a committee. My experience as chairman of your Lordships' Select Committee on the European Union was that we often found ourselves having to draw back from the frontier when there were issues that we felt needed...

EU: Prime Minister's Speech — Motion to Take Note (31 January 2013)

Lord Grenfell: My Lords, the Prime Minister's speech went down well with my very conservative mother, who celebrated her 100th birthday on the morning that he delivered it. I myself found quite a lot to commend in the analysis of what is wrong with the functioning of the European Union, but I wish that he had heeded Rab Butler's dictum that politics is the art of the possible. The road he has taken for...

Procedure of the House — Motion to Agree (9 January 2013)

Lord Grenfell: My Lords, I wish to explain very briefly why I have tabled my amendment. Many years ago, a young Italian opera singer made his debut at the Naples opera house. At the end of his first aria there was very loud applause and shouts for an encore, which he obliged. After his second rendition there was even louder applause and even more cries for an encore. However, seeing the conductor shaking...

European Union: Recent Developments — Motion to Take Note (17 December 2012)

Lord Grenfell: My Lords, and now for something completely different: I shall confine my remarks exclusively to Croatia's accession to the European Union. In doing so, I declare an interest as secretary of the All-Party Group for Croatia. I am also a trustee of the Dundee Trust, an initiative of the noble Earl, Lord Dundee, which has been active in supporting community projects in that country. I have taken...

North Korea — Private Notice Question (12 December 2012)

Lord Grenfell: My Lords, it is good news that the ambassador of North Korea has been called in. I have not heard many people mentioning South Korea-the Republic of Korea-in this exchange. Are Her Majesty's Government speaking to the South Koreans to urge them not to try to take any kind of unilateral action and that whatever they do, it should be done through the United Nations?

Charities — Question (12 December 2012)

Lord Grenfell: My Lords, I spent some years living in the United States. I was always struck there by the efficacy of the system that they have, in which where contributions to charities are fully deductible. The US Treasury seems to have worked out that the more that is given by individuals, the less the eventual burden on the taxpayers because they are taking up a lot of the strain from the taxpayers....

European Council — Statement (26 November 2012)

Lord Grenfell: My Lords, one question that has not been answered needs answering. Where are the Government's red lines in the next negotiations? We do not know; perhaps the Government do not know. If at the next round in January, or whenever it is to be, no compromise can be found, or it is a compromise that does not match what the Government feel they can accept, what are the Government going to do? Will...

European Council — Statement (26 November 2012)

Lord Grenfell: I am sorry, but on the Lisbon treaty we went into negotiations with red lines; they were very firmly laid out.

Russian Federation: Council of Europe — Question (30 October 2012)

Lord Grenfell: My Lords, is the Prime Minister, in dismissing out of hand the European Court of Human Rights' ruling on voting rights for prisoners, not giving aid and comfort to members of the Council of Europe like Russia that see fit to pick and choose which of the undertakings they made when joining the Council they wish to honour?

European Council — Statement (22 October 2012)

Lord Grenfell: My Lords, one of the less kindly remarks that Winston Churchill made about Stanley Baldwin was that he was a man who occasionally stumbled upon the truth and that he then got up, dusted himself off and hurried on as if nothing had happened. I think that that is a charge that one could probably level against this Prime Minister when it comes to Europe. Will the Leader of the House tell us...

Government of France: Meetings — Question (12 June 2012)

Lord Grenfell: My Lords, will the Minister accept a mild rebuke from me on the pronunciation of the names of French Presidents? I declare an interest. It seems a failing of successive Governments to get the names of French Presidents properly pronounced. The previous President was inevitably and almost always referred to as Mr Sarkozy as if it was meant to rhyme with tea cosy, when in fact it does not; and...

European Union — Membership Motion (16 May 2012)

Lord Grenfell: My Lords, I take this opportunity to congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Boswell, on his appointment to the chairmanship of the committee, a chairmanship which I enormously enjoyed when I had the honour to hold it. What the noble Lord, Lord Pearson of Rannoch, is saying today is so familiar to me it is almost like listening to "Auld Lang Syne" every New Year's Eve. It is utterly predictable but...

Eurozone — Question (16 May 2012)

Lord Grenfell: My Lords, as regards those who are pleading for not one single cent more of British money to be spent on sorting out the problems in the eurozone, will the Minister bear in mind what the consequences might be if a newly elected Greek Government after the next elections wish to tear up all the agreements made, which would almost certainly provoke an exit from the eurozone leading to...

Queen's Speech — Debate (2nd Day) (10 May 2012)

Lord Grenfell: Does the noble Lord not agree that the membership of this House is a great deal more representative of the many strands of society in the United Kingdom than is the House of Commons?

Draft House of Lords Reform Bill: Motion to Take Note (2nd Day) (1 May 2012)

Lord Grenfell: My Lords, the noble Lord is making an assumption when he says that we have to wait until all these problems are solved before we go ahead with Lords reform. That is not what we are saying. Goodness knows, we are not expecting the Government to solve these problems or we shall wait forever to get back to Lords reform. We are saying that it is very strange that, in the coming Session, so much...

Draft House of Lords Reform Bill: Motion to Take Note (30 April 2012)

Lord Grenfell: My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Cormack. The congruence of our views on Lords reform are long-standing and determined-and as a long-standing and determined opponent of an elected second Chamber, I have difficulty with many of the conclusions and recommendations in this report. However, that in no way diminishes my admiration for the extraordinary achievement of the...

Arrangement of Business (26 April 2012)

Lord Grenfell: My Lords, the noble Lord may recall his history of the other place in Edwardian times, when Arthur Balfour, who was rather used to making long and fanciful statements, was ejected from the prime ministership and went into opposition. He may recall the occasion on which Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, who had just become Prime Minister, said that Balfour tried to dazzle the House with his verbal...