Clerk of the Parliaments

Earl of Kinnoull Excerpts

Monday 13th April 2026 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Kinnoull (CB)]

My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, and indeed to hear the wonderful remarks from the Leader and from the noble Lord, Lord True, earlier on. I am in the rare and happy position of agreeing with every word that has been said so far in support of the Motion paying tribute to Simon.

Simon was born in 1964. This, of course, was the year of that most important album and indeed the Oscar-winning film so relevant for his career: “A Hard Day’s Night”. Indeed, 40 years ago, on his very first day in the House, the House sat until nearly midnight—the regular pattern that we know so well.

Simon’s career was very much connected with the Select Committees of our House. On becoming the clerk of a Select Committee for the first time in what was then another era, he famously was told by his chair not to arrange meetings on Wednesdays. When he asked why, he was told, “You see, it ruins both weekends”.

Simon’s outstanding record as a committee clerk has been very well covered, and the noble Lord, Lord True, anticipated me here, because it would be wrong for me not to comment on his time as clerk of the European Union Committee. His chair at that time was Lord Grenfell, and they were very much responsible for the tuning of the structures that allowed for the effective scrutiny of the 900 or so legislative proposals that came out of Brussels every year; scrutiny, that is, by the main EU committee and its six sub-committees. Later on, in my seven years as a member and then, latterly, chair of the committee, I greatly benefited from the smooth machinery that Simon had such a hand in building.

Simon had become Clerk Assistant by the time that I became Deputy Speaker in 2019. At the time, it had been some time since a new Deputy Speaker had been appointed. Indeed, there was only one other Deputy Speaker below the age of 70, and they were a sprightly 68. Simon agreed to conduct a training course. I was blissfully unaware of just how busy the Clerk Assistant is, but Simon always seemed to have time for me and went carefully through the Deputy Speaker’s manual with me. Those sessions were punctuated by good humour and his great booming laughter. He made careful notes of a number of anomalies that we came across in the manual and an updated manual appeared a few months later, but as ever, Simon took no credit for what was his work.

I turn briefly to Simon’s time as Clerk of the Parliaments—briefly not because I could not have said a lot but because it has already been said. But I will observe two things. First, at the core of Simon’s style is the care for the welfare and interests of his staff. Secondly, we all know and enjoy the very high quality, level of expertise and can-do attitude of each and every one of our staff. These two things are surely connected and the nexus is Simon. It is therefore no surprise that his successor comes from within his ranks. On behalf of these Benches, I congratulate Chloe Mawson and welcome her to the role.

Simon’s last late-night duty, just before the Recess, took him to 1.45 am—a final hard day’s night. It is for that and all his many achievements that on behalf of these Benches I thank him very warmly and wish him a long and happy retirement.