Leader of the House

Lord Hill of Oareford Excerpts

Tuesday 8th January 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord MacGregor of Pulham Market]

My Lords, I rise to pay tribute and give warm thanks to my noble friend on behalf of the Association of Conservative Peers for all that he has achieved for this House and our party during his long and distinguished career to date. Those of us who have served in government and on opposition Front Benches for a number of years are fully aware of the all-consuming and unremitting pressures and strains that that service brings—and, like other noble Lords, I think I have done my bit. However, we can only marvel at the unbroken record of my noble friend over 25 years as a Minister in many departments, as Deputy Speaker, Deputy Chairman of Committees—briefly—and as a member of shadow Cabinets and Cabinets. Few in either House can rival my noble friend’s record and it is entirely understandable that he should now wish to find time for another life and to pursue the many other interests that have inevitably languished during those years.

The House has changed much since 1999, both in its role and value. It is perhaps true to say that, in earlier years, its contribution was sometimes underestimated among the higher reaches in the other place. That is no longer true today, and my noble friend has played a notable part in bringing that about and in developing our House’s modern role in today’s world. Many of us have discovered that behind the jovial exterior and merry manner lie a shrewd brain, an immense capacity for work and a devotion to the tasks in hand. I will give one example of the latter. No one should underestimate the difficulty of repeating a Statement made by the Prime Minister in the other place following a European Council or other high-level international meeting, at which he was not present and where decisions were inevitably sometimes made in the middle of the night. After possibly only one or two hours’ briefing at the most, my noble friend would have to cover a vast range of issues on which it would be easy to drop a brick; yet he always carried out that role with aplomb. All that experience and understanding of the House and its modern role was brought to bear, in my view, with the skill and subtlety with which he has handled the issue of Lords reform.

As Leader of the House, my noble friend has shown devotion to this place above party politics. As leader of the Conservative Party in the Lords, he has always worked closely with colleagues in the ACP in developing policies, and his door has always been open to us. We welcome our colleague, the noble Lord, Lord Hill, as a very worthy successor, and we thank the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, warmly and extend every best wish for success and happiness in whatever avenues he now wishes to pursue.

[The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Hill of Oareford)]

My Lords—

[Noble Lords]

Hear, hear.

[Lord Hill of Oareford]

I wholeheartedly support the sentiments that have been expressed across the House about my noble friend Lord Strathclyde. Some play has already been made about his name. My noble friend Lord McNally may feel short-changed with a surname like McNally. I say to him, “Try the surname Hill”. This afternoon’s tributes are a testament to the great dedication that my noble friend showed to this House in his remarkable quarter-century of service on the Front Bench.

My noble friend was a gifted and agile Leader of the Opposition for almost 12 years, before rightly taking his place as an outstanding Leader of this House, working over that time with five different Leaders of the party opposite. Indeed, he led the Conservative Benches for longer than any Peer, save for two distinguished Marquises of Salisbury and the Duke of Wellington. That is not bad company for a Conservative Leader of the House to keep.

Both in opposition and office, during a long period of time in which the House faced change unprecedented in generations, his immense experience and knowledge of—and, I may add, loyalty to—this House have been to the huge benefit of us all. That was given recognition yesterday when the Prime Minister recommended the appointment of the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, to the Order of the Companions of Honour, an appointment which brings distinction and due recognition to the work he has done here and as a Minister over so many years.

As a relative newcomer to the House, I am certainly in his debt for the guidance and support he has given me since May 2010. It is rather disconcerting to stand here at the Dispatch Box today without the benefit of his occasional instruction, delivered in a forceful stage whisper from the direction of my right elbow. Since the general election, my noble friend has steered the House with great skill through some unusual and testing times, with the establishment of a coalition Government for the first time since the Second World War. It is not just the Government for whom he has worked tirelessly, but the whole House, whose interests I know he has always guarded at every opportunity.

It is therefore a tremendous privilege to follow my noble friend in serving this House and these Benches as Leader. I have enormous respect for the work of this House, for its role in our constitutional arrangements and for our traditions and courtesies—which, like my predecessors, I hope to be able to help uphold.

My noble friend Lord Strathclyde leaves a large hole on our Front Bench, as well as perhaps a little more space for the rest of us. To succeed him as Leader of this House is therefore an honour that I view rather nervously, but I take great encouragement from the generous remarks that noble Lords have been kind enough to make this afternoon.