Select Committee on Governance of the House

Charlie Elphicke Excerpts

Wednesday 10th September 2014 Commons Chamber

[Ms Eagle]

The members of the commission spent 20 hours of their lives conducting a process along the lines of all other processes that go on outside the House for appointing senior posts. We cannot be criticised for not knowing something that came to light subsequently, whether it is relevant or not.

[Charlie Elphicke (Dover) (Con)]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Ms Eagle]

I am happy to give way, but I do not want to take too much of the House’s time talking about things that are not relevant to the motion.

[Charlie Elphicke]

I want to move on to governance rather than personalities. The hon. Lady says the decision was arrived at by consensus, and yet it has caused massive disunity in the House. What does that say about the contact and in-touchness of those involved in the process with the wider House of Commons, and what does it say about House of Commons governance and accountability?

[Ms Eagle]

The decision has caused worries for some people, but I do not think it has caused the amount of controversy the hon. Gentleman suggests. There are people on both sides of the argument. He should not imagine that, when the panel made the decision, we were being out of touch. We were making an honest judgment after being presented with candidates in an open and transparent way. He might not agree with the decision, but the process was open and transparent, and in line with ordinary procedure for the appointment of such posts anywhere but the House.