Mr John Patten: I support my hon. Friends the Members for Birmingham, Edgbaston (Dame J. Knight) and for Gainsborough and Horncastle (Mr. Leigh). It strikes me as political correctness gone mad to seek to deny people, man or woman—in a society in which they have the freedom to do almost anything else they like—the freedom to put in their marriage contract that which my hon. Friend the Member for...
Mr John Patten: No; I am coming to the end of my speech. We have heard some frightening words. I do not want to terrify my hon. Friend the Minister too much, because he knows that he has my strong personal support, but we have heard many terrifying words today from the hon. Member for Brent, South (Mr. Boateng) about how, unless he gets this, that and the other, he will lead his troops into the Lobby...
Mr John Patten: I congratulate my hon. Friend the Minister on tabling the new clause and related amendments. He has certainly hit the ground running since he assumed his new responsibilities. I listened carefully to the hon. Member for Brent, South (Mr. Boateng), who asked where the resources are to come from, which is a proper question to ask. I also listened carefully to my hon. Friend the Member for...
Mr John Patten: Further to that point of order, Mr. Morris.
Mr John Patten: On a separate point of order, Mr. Morris.
Mr John Patten: It is a new point of order. Would it be in order for the Lord President and Leader of the House to approach you tonight if he wished to make a statement on Government business in light of this evening's vote, and the fact that an overwhelming majority—
Mr John Patten: Has my hon. Friend received any letters in support of the Bill from any known Conservative supporters—of which there are a great many in his constituency as he is such a popular and excellent Member of Parliament?
Mr John Patten: I am glad to follow my right hon. Friend the Member for Selby (Mr. Alison), and agree with everything that he said. I shall not labour the point any longer. It has been an excellent debate, and I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough and Horncastle (Mr. Leigh) on the way in which he introduced it. He put forward a case that many hon. Members, certainly many Conservative...
Mr John Patten: I shall give way to my hon. Friend, but he must remember that I have been very nice to him this afternoon.
Mr John Patten: To the best of my knowledge, in Australia, New Zealand and the United States, there has been a surge in marital breakdowns. I was not invited by President Clinton to his national prayer breakfast in Washington on 1 February, but he was quoted as saying—referring to his lawful wedded wife— Hillary said in her book that 'Till death do us part' has often become, 'Till the going gets tough.'...
Mr John Patten: Has my hon. Friend noticed that not one Scottish or Northern Irish Member has spoken in this place in favour of the legislation?
Mr John Patten: Does my hon. Friend recognise that, by attributing to me an approval of the present law that requires people to live separately for two or five years, he has baited a trap and fallen into it? At no stage have I argued that. I have argued, however, that there should be a proper period of reflection for 18 months or two years, during which people can go through reconciliation and mediation....
Mr John Patten: I listened with great care to the eloquence of the hon. Member for Brent, South (Mr. Boateng), who spoke from the Opposition Front Bench. I am sure that he was as right about the importance of reconciliation as he will turn out to be wrong in his evaluation of what has gone on in New Zealand and Australia. In those countries, despite all the best efforts of reconcilers and mediators,...
Mr John Patten: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I have, in a spirit of helpfulness, a six-point plan to help Her Majesty's Government, with which I intend to conclude. One of those points is exactly the one to which my hon. Friend referred.
Mr John Patten: I give way to my hon. Friend the Member for Weston-super-Mare (Sir J. Wiggin).
Mr John Patten: I do not doubt that. I listened with great care to what my hon. Friend said. Of course, he is right when he puts forward the view that, on many occasions, there is no or very little—fault when a marriage breaks down. People fall out of love, get bored with each other, drift apart, and, alas, a marriage dies on its feet and they end up in the divorce courts. It is wrong of the House to send...
Mr John Patten: I am trying, in the spirit of Madam Speaker's earlier ruling, to make a quickie speech, but I shall give way to my two hon. Friends and then try to crack on.
Mr John Patten: I am sure that my hon. Friend and I agree that much more effort will be needed in reconciliation. I sense from interventions that have been made that there is common ground on that between hon. Members on both sides of the House. I now give way to my hon. Friend the Member for Billericay (Mrs. Gorman).
Mr John Patten: His Eminence the Archbishop of Westminster, in an article in The Tablet, made his views perfectly clear and suggested ways in which he thought that the Bill could be improved, but I argue my case purely personally and on secular grounds, to which I now wish to refer. Surely, practice must be about learning from experience. Bitter experience in this country has taught us that predictions made...
Mr John Patten: I see my right hon. Friend from the Ulster Unionist party indicating assent. I do not think that he and his hon. Friends wish to have the Bill visited on them. We already know that, in Northern Ireland and Scotland respectively, about 60 per cent. and 75 per cent. of divorces are granted after two or five years' separation. Why is this new divorce law being uniquely visited on England and...