Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. At the risk of being accused of going from one extreme to the other, may I commend you—this sounds very oleaginous and creepy, I know—for the production of your “Quick guide to participating in the Chamber and Westminster Hall”? Very succinctly put it is, too. I notice that you say that, at Question Time, for example,
“Keep your question short…Don’t read out your question”.
I also note that the guide applies not just to new Members but to older Members. One of the rules is
“Don’t walk between the Chair and whoever is speaking.”
There is one particular elderly miner—I cannot name him; it would be wrong to do so—who constantly walks between you and someone asking a question. I wonder whether you can somehow make the guide compulsory reading, particularly among elderly miners and some of the older Members.
Mr Speaker
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, who is seeking to establish himself as a general aid of first-class character to the occupant of the Chair and to other Members. He has just provided a real-time advertisement for the rules of behaviour and courtesies in the House. That document has just been circulated and I hope that all Members are paying the keenest attention to it, even if an hon. Member is currently consulting an iPad and taking an intense interest in some matter other than that which I am dealing with. I feel sure it is only because the hon. Member for Beckenham (Bob Stewart) has already read and possibly inwardly digested over breakfast the document concerned.
It is a most useful document. The quick guide to participating in the Chamber and Westminster Hall has been circulated to all Members, but I am extremely grateful to the hon. Member for Lichfield (Michael Fabricant). I am trying to work out who has caused the hon. Gentleman’s consternation through his offending conduct. I cannot think of the individual concerned but, whoever that Member is, it is never too late to learn the courtesies of the House. I am very grateful to the hon. Member for Lichfield.
Stephen Doughty (Cardiff South and Penarth) (Lab/Co-op)
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. In that vein, I have also taken the liberty of enjoying your new book. In point 35, you rightly draw our attention to the importance of Members informing other Members when they intend to visit their constituencies, unless they are on a private visit. I was therefore particularly surprised and dismayed to get a letter this morning from the Chancellor of the Exchequer informing me of not one but two visits to my constituency that took place five days ago. Further to that, it has been alleged that at least part of one of those events was of a party political nature relating to the Welsh elections and involving the Chancellor urging people to support the leader of the Welsh Conservatives. The second event was a purely party political event involving activists in Wales and perhaps even fundraising. It has also been alleged to me that Treasury civil servants were involved in the facilitation of at least one of those events. Could you tell me whether the Chancellor has received a copy of your book? Could you also tell me how I might find out whether Treasury civil servants were indeed involved in activities that might have breached the ministerial and civil service codes?
Jo Stevens (Cardiff Central) (Lab)
Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. I am in the same situation as my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Stephen Doughty). Last week, the Secretary of State for Wales and the Chancellor of the Exchequer visited my constituency, but I had no notice of either visit from either right hon. Member. I would be grateful if you advised me on how I might take the matter further.
Mr Speaker
I am grateful to the hon. Members for Cardiff South and Penarth (Stephen Doughty) and for Cardiff Central (Jo Stevens) for those points of order, and I appreciate their giving me notice of their intention to raise this matter. As the hon. Member for Lichfield (Michael Fabricant) well knows—and as everyone else should know—it is a long-standing and firm convention that hon. Members should give notice if they intend to visit another hon. Member’s constituency in anything other than a purely personal and therefore, in a sense, private capacity. In the case of Ministers, it is clearly stated in the Government’s ministerial code that such notice must be given. It is open to either of the hon. Members to raise this matter with the Cabinet Secretary, if either or both of them should wish to do so. However, I trust that what has been said, by them and by me, has been noted by those on the Treasury Bench and will be communicated directly to the Ministers concerned.
For the avoidance of doubt, as with virtually every convention in this place, the convention applies without fear, favour or discrimination. No Minister can be exempted or exempt him or herself from it on the ground of seniority. The hon. Member for Cardiff South and Penarth inquired whether the Chancellor of the Exchequer had received a copy of the note on conventions and courtesies, and the answer is that he most assuredly will have done so, because it has been sent to every Member.
On the hon. Gentleman’s point about receiving notification some days late, it is a fairly obvious common-sensical point that if people are going to comply with the convention, as they should, they should take great care to do so in a timely way. There is no point in leaving it to the last minute, only to find that the notification arrives late. It must be done in a timely way that is considerate of Members’ responsibility to each other. So all three Members have, in cross-party fashion, done the House a service today and I thank them for that.
Michael Fabricant
Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. We have been discussing the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Treasury, and I am just speculating, given the need to save money, that the letter might have been sent second class.
Mr Speaker
The imagination of the hon. Gentleman is vivid, and what I would describe as his spontaneous intellectual gymnastics are an example to us all.