Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My Lords, my question is about the word "attendance", which sounds very simple. I spent the past week at the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, where they have changed the rules. You get your hotel paid, and a smaller amount than used to be the case for subsistence. I was in Macedonia earlier this month, where the subsistence amount was the munificent sum of...
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My Lords, before the noble Lord, Lord Lipsey, sits down, I should apologise to him for muttering while he was speaking. However, he was referring to his golden age of 1951 and my muttering, which I should have aired aloud, was that in 1951 the party with fewer votes won the election.
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My Lords-
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My Lords, has the Minister observed, as some of us behind him have, that the three Questions that have been asked so far from the opposition Benches have all been supplied by central casting in such a way that all the questioners asking supplementary questions have had to resort to scripts?
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My Lords, I am a Londoner, and I have had the good fortune, in my many years in this House, of going at night to my own home, to my own bed, to my own books, to my own family, to my own kitchen and to my friends in the neighbourhood in which I live. I am astonished at the self-sacrifice of those who cannot do that because they live outside London and have to spend their week time, when they...
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My Lords, I will be quick because I want to refer only to three paragraphs of the Privileges Committee's report. I played no part in the preparation of these documents, so I can be objective in congratulating all those who have been involved. However, I was involved more than 10 years ago in the Griffiths committee on the code of conduct. I disagreed profoundly with our conclusion then that...
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My Lords, I do not disagree with the definition, but there should be an automatic exclusion from taking part in parliamentary activities. It is perfectly clear.
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: Before the right reverend Prelate sits down, I am puzzled by his reference to discussions in the synods and congregations of the churches. That seems a good idea, but how can it have any meaning unless the amendment has been passed and the debate is about something that could happen?
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: It was not constructive.
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My Lords, I am not breaking any rules by intervening in the gap but I am certainly breaking the conventions of the House, and I apologise for that. I was not able to be here for the beginning of this debate or to hear the Minister on this subject. However, I remember the passage of the Video Recordings Act 1984 because Douglas Houghton and Hugh Jenkins-Lord Houghton of Sowerby and Lord...
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My Lords, if Michael Young-Lord Young of Dartington-were here now he would be holding his head in his hands, but I do not know whether that would be in laughter or in despair. Michael Young wrote The Rise of the Meritocracy, one of the most misunderstood and yet important books on this subject. The lesson of that book is that, yes, you can move toward greater equality of opportunity and...
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The noble Lord, Lord Tebbit, ought to hear me out and think about not just what Michael Young wrote but the misinterpretations that there have been of what he said-he was one of the great thinkers of the 20th century. The point is that if equality of opportunity works, you will have a society in which the hewers of wood and the drawers of water will be deprived of the opportunities of those...
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: Good Governments do that all the time. This Government have been bringing in Ministers from other departments to contribute to legislative debates. Nothing is needed for the Procedure Committee; it just needs good will.
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: Question?
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My Lords, does the Minister know whether the Church of England has been selling short?
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My Lords, a high level of employment and growth.
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My Lords, I have two disqualifications for intervening in this debate. First, my great-grandfather was a blacksmith in Blairgowrie. As the Scots know, the Carse of Gowrie has a very clement climate and provides a lot of the soft fruit which is sent down to Dundee to make jam. My grandfather, like many others who were not involved, used to speculate on the raspberry crop. If the raspberry crop...
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My Lords, we have now had six or seven questions in a row from the Conservative Benches. Will the Minister acknowledge that on this side of the House we believe that she has answered all of them not only effectively but quickly, and we are grateful to her?
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My Lords, as one who has answered my fair share of Questions in my time, may I ask the Leader of the House whether she will remind Members of the House asking supplementary questions that, if they ask more than two, the Minister responding has the opportunity to pick and choose, which makes it easier for the Minister? I heard what she said about being helpful, but will Ministers refrain from...
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My Lords, I hope that the Minister will not answer those questions, which are nothing to do with the instruments.