Members Sworn

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 8 May 1997.

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Photo of Miss Betty Boothroyd Miss Betty Boothroyd Speaker of the House of Commons 12:00, 8 May 1997

Before Members proceed to the taking of the Oath, I regret to have to report to the House the death of Sir Michael Shersby, Member for Uxbridge. I am sure that hon. Members on both sides of the House will join me in mourning the loss of a colleague and extending sympathy to the hon. Member's family and his friends.

It may be for the convenience of the House if I indicate my intentions with regard to the taking of the Oath by right hon and hon. Members. I propose to call, first, the Father of the House; then the Cabinet; then the shadow Cabinet; then all the Privy Councillors not included in those two groups, wherever they may be sitting, and then other Ministers. Thereafter I shall call other hon. Members according to seniority determined by the basis of seniority, that is by the Parliament of first entry or, for those with broken service, that of most recent entry.

The first batch will be those elected in or before 1974. Thereafter I shall proceed by successive Parliaments. I hope by late this afternoon to have made sufficient progress to enable all Members to swear in who wish to do so up to and including those elected to the 1992 Parliament. The House will sit again tomorrow at 9.30, when I shall call those Members first elected to the current Parliament as well as Members elected to earlier Parliaments who were not able to take the Oath today.

Finally, the House will meet again next Tuesday at 2.30 to enable Members to take the Oath who have not done so this week.

I hope that this announcement will be helpful to Members in planning their programmes. Progress will depend, of course, on the number of Members wishing to take the Oath at any particular time. I advise Members to watch the annunciators to establish progress and to speak to their Whips. I hope also that Members will come forward in an orderly manner. Let us now begin.