Orders of the Day — Parliamentary Commissioner

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 7 February 1967.

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Photo of Mr William Molloy Mr William Molloy , Ealing North 12:00, 7 February 1967

I do not deny the right of any back bencher from either side to criticise the Government if the Opposition feel, as is their right, that they can do much better in challenging the Government from the back benches than from the Front Benches.

As I see it, the argument is that if there had been no preparation for the creation of this new service, the Government would have faced the challenge, "What sort of planning is this? What sort of preparation have you done?" It is not possible, overnight, to create a department which will play a very important rôle in our society. It will make a contribution to defending the individual which, as I have always understood it, is one of the main planks of Conservative argument.

They would have charged the Government, quite rightly, "Why did you not take steps to see to it that, when the new service is ready, it can go into operation as swiftly as possible?" It does not matter for which way the Government had opted. As far as the Opposition are concerned, they would have been in the wrong.

There is another attitude which we have to examine. If, as the hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam (Mr. Sharples) has said, in principle the Opposition have supported the idea. the sort of arguments that we have heard have been so wide ranging that they have really been criticisms of the entire concept. The argument concerning the appointment of the particular individual and the Estimates Committee's Report itself has merely been the hook on which to criticise the whole concept and, at the same time, provide an opportunity for the Opposition to say that they were only attacking the fact that the Government acted and made some appointment before the House had gone into the matter.

I am quite sure that time will show that many right hon. and hon. Gentlemen opposite will take full advantage of the service which the Parliamentary Commissioner will create. I hope that they will.