Steve Pound: France marked the millennium with the partial sponsorship of a yacht race, and in Germany there was a trade fair. Can my hon. Friend imagine the reaction of her constituents, mine and the people of this nation, if we had not had such an achievement as the dome?
Steve Pound: Just the hon. Gentleman's questions.
Steve Pound: Oh no it is not.
Steve Pound: I take the hon. Gentleman's point about companies not being the best arbiters, but does he agree that one of the more interesting aspects of the Bill and the background to it is that the Portman Group, comprising producers and suppliers, has acted with great responsibility and is an example of the way in which responsible retailers, wholesalers and producers can anticipate legislation and...
Steve Pound: I join hon. Members on both sides of the House in congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Pudsey (Mr. Truswell) on presenting a timely, appropriate and much-needed Bill that will stand as a fitting tribute to his unfortunate late constituent, David Knowles. I apologise for not being present for the first 20 minutes of the debate. Having bowled in from Ealing in half an hour with no...
Steve Pound: I rest my case. There is a slightly odd feeling in the House this morning—not just because of the equanimity that is a tribute to the skills and the excellent presentation of my hon. Friend the Member for Pudsey. As far as I can recall, this is one of the few Friday mornings on which Members on both sides of the House have not sat in fear anticipating the iconoclastic actions of the right...
Steve Pound: I am anxious not to tempt fate. Extraordinarily, not only has the right hon. Gentleman indicated support, but almost uniquely he is absent from his seat. It is a bit like going to the Chamber of Horrors and finding Jack the Ripper is not there—not that I am comparing the House with Madame Tussauds.
Steve Pound: I appreciate that the more popular choice for that award was my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Medway (Mr. Marshall—Andrews) but, on this occasion, I am sure that the accolade was deserved. However, we stray tangentially from the point. The fact that the Bill is supported by hon. Members on both sides of the House is not just a tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Pudsey, but a...
Steve Pound: I shall resist that temptation. In many cases, the problems that we face arise from the alcopops phenomenon of the mid-1990s. They were invented by an Australian called Mr. Macgilivray, who found that he had a large stock of possibly knocked-off lemons in a lorry outside his outback boozer and wanted something to do with them. Heaven help us if he had had a load of pork. We would probably...
Steve Pound: If I may respond to the sedentary intervention from the hon. Member for New Forest, East—
Steve Pound: I am sorry, the hon. Member for New Forest, West (Mr. Swayne)—even though I understand that, when the moon is full, the hon. Gentleman knows no boundaries. Suffice it to say in response to his intervention that the presence of the right hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst inspires many of us. On that note, I thoroughly endorse the Bill and congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for...
Steve Pound: The Conservative party would lose half its members.
Steve Pound: Will my hon. Friend give way?
Steve Pound: I thank my hon. Friend. Is the opt-out to be a rollover? Will people opt out once and for ever, or will they have to do so every year, as the register is renewed? Is the leaflet to be amended every year, or will it stay the same for, say, five, 10 or 15 years?
Steve Pound: That is what my wife wants to know.
Steve Pound: It is illegal.
Steve Pound: I shall speak briefly, because I have already made many of my points. I should like to follow up some of the comments of the hon. Member for Aldershot (Mr. Howarth), who referred to a sophisticated screening system for dealing with junk mail. In my part of west London, we have a cruder, if not more earthy method of screening junk mail. I have in my garden a piece of equipment called the...
Steve Pound: Conservative Newsline was by far the most offensive of them. For several months they arrived on my doorstep in plain brown envelopes. It is often difficult to get credit for the first year after one moves. Although the electoral register is not totally accurate, it is certainly more than 90 per cent. accurate. Local authorities that I have known—as a citizen and as an elected...
Steve Pound: The Prime Minister earlier referred to people suffering. He must be aware that there are many today shivering in misery, with despair deep in their bones, who feel that they have no future and who turn their faces sadly to the wall. Can he offer balm of Gilead or some soothing words to the Conservative party?
Steve Pound: Under what name?