Gregory Stafford
Main Page: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Gregory Stafford (Farnham and Bordon) (Con)
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I seek your guidance on a long-established convention of this House that Members notify other Members when they intend to visit another Member’s constituency in an official or political capacity. Over the weekend, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, the right hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Ed Davey), together with two of his parliamentary colleagues and a Member from the Labour party, undertook engagements in the Farnham and Tilford parts of my constituency. No notification of any of these visits was received by my office. Given that the leader of the Liberal Democrats is frequently vocal on questions of standards, rules and propriety in public life, could you advise me on whether it is consistent with the expectations of this House that such a convention appears not to have been observed on this occasion, and in light of the fact that this concern relates directly to Members across the House—
Mr Speaker
Order. Do not overstretch your point of order. You want a good answer, not a bad one.
I reiterate once again that I do not care whether you are the leader of a party, the Prime Minister, a Back Bencher, or even a possible future Prime Minister; whoever you are, you must observe the due courtesies and let the Member concerned know, unless you are on private business. The courtesies of the House must be upheld. I do not care who you are—do that. We wanted a new beginning; this is a bad start. I am sure that the leader of the Liberal Democrats is already sending a letter to the hon. Member for Farnham and Bordon (Gregory Stafford), or it might be stuck in the computer somewhere. I am not going to make that judgment call.