Lord Neill of Bladen: My Lords, I begin by declaring an interest. I am the chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life whose activities have given rise to this debate. It is a remunerated position on a part-time basis. The remuneration is a matter of public record. I consider the function of my speech to lay certain facts before noble Lords in an objective manner. I wish to stress the history of this...
Lord Neill of Bladen: I am grateful to the noble and learned Lord. I did not understand him to be expressing a criticism. I expressed myself badly if I used words which implied that. In the autumn of 1997, I succeeded the noble and learned Lord, Lord Nolan, as chairman of the committee. On that occasion we were given a remit to look into the funding of political parties. Your Lordships will be aware that a Bill on...
Lord Neill of Bladen: My Lords, I do not want to equivocate on the matter of language. The word that I like is the word in the Motion of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Archer, and in the letter from the noble Baroness, Lady Jay, that this House "welcomes" the inquiry. I do not think that we should be in the position of being invited to do it because I believe we are an independent committee.
Lord Neill of Bladen: My Lords, noble Lords express surprise. They could not have been following the drift of my earlier argument because I stressed that part of the letter of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Nolan, in which he informed the noble Viscount, Lord Cranborne, that an inquiry was going to be conducted. It was not saying, "May we have leave to do so?" I think that it would be a completely false position...
Lord Neill of Bladen: My Lords, I take the House back to the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Bill. I have an interest to declare in that I had the honour to be the chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life which produced the report we are discussing. My interest is to see that a Bill which carries into effect the recommendations of our report goes on to the statute book. It is a little...
Lord Neill of Bladen: My Lords, on behalf of your Lordships' House, I have the pleasure of congratulating the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, on his maiden speech. I think we have a guarantee of vitality and absence of blandness in his future speeches. Speaking for myself, I look forward to the day when he makes a controversial speech. I notice that listed among the noble Lord's recreations are...
