Former Independent MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup
It is said that politics is a vain calling—that people stand in this place and say, "Hear my views. Look at me, look at me." I suspect that all Members of the House have looked at me in great detail and I still bear the scars. It would be a vanity on my part, however, to think that the Government's proposals on the employment of staff are down to the experiences that have been well...
I in no way question how the Standards and Privileges Committee conducted its case with me—I accepted fully what it said—but that does not prevent me, any other Member of this House or any member of the public from contrasting the different reports that the Committee produces. It found in my case that the issue hung on the level of reward. Henry, my eldest son, was paid at the second...
I am not challenging what the Committee is saying. What I am asking is that if Members are looking for guidance on what level of pay to set for their staff, should they look to the House authorities, to the Green Book or to personnel practice? The Committee's different decisions in different cases do not necessarily help to provide that guidance, but they set a precedent—that is the point I...
Will the right hon. Gentleman accept that I repeat, without qualification, the apology that I have already given him in writing and that I accept, without any reservation, the Committee's conclusion that I breached a rule of the House? I would also like to withdraw the statement that I made to the media last Thursday.
With your permission, Mr. Speaker, I wish to make a personal statement to the House. The Committee on Standards and Privileges has today issued its report on the complaint made against me for employing my son as a researcher and parliamentary assistant. I will not delay the business of the House by going through the contents of that report, as it is publicly available. The Committee was...
Order. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman would not be tempted down that path. What he does on the Floor of the House is a matter for him later.
Order.
Order. We are not going to have a debate about Members’ pay in this Committee. We will stick to the new clause before the Committee.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his Algerian counterpart on responsibility for the treatment of Sahrawi refugees on Algeria's territory; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his Algerian counterpart on allowing exit visas for Sahrawi refugees in the Tindouf camps; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Algerian government on the case of Mr. Sghair, a Sahrawi refugee, detained by the Polisario for three months for attempting to cross into Morocco; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his Algerian counterpart on allowing entire families overland visits from the refugee camps in Tindouf; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with (a) his Algerian counterpart and (b) the Polisario on a census to count and register the Sahrawi refugee population in the Tindouf camps; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his Algerian counterpart on Algeria's obligations under the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees in relation to the Sahrawi refugee camps; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with (a) his Algerian counterpart and (b) the Polisario on the United Nations High Commission on Refugees' confidence-building measures programme for the Sahrawi refugee population in the Tindouf camps; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Ambassador of Algeria on conditions imposed by the Algerian Government and the Polisario on refugee camps in Tindouf; and if he will make a statement.
