Ministerial Code (Culture Secretary)

Nigel Evans Excerpts

Wednesday 13th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir Peter Bottomley (Worthing West) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. When an hon. or right hon. Member starts a sentence with “Any honest” something or other, we are getting close to the time when we need to be careful.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

That is not a point of order for the Chair. We must use temperate language throughout this debate. That would be incredibly useful for its tone. We also need to be aware that the winding-up speeches will commence at around 3.45 pm, so it would helpful if we focused on the subject matter of the debate.

[Mr Denham]

It must, shall we say, have occurred to the Secretary of State that the Cabinet Secretary did not know of his memo. It must certainly have occurred to the Prime Minister that the Cabinet Secretary could not possibly have had the chance to consider that memo before he wrote the letter. Thus, from 22 December onwards, the Secretary of State and the Prime Minister have relied essentially on a fiction—a letter from Sir Gus O’Donnell that relied on his not knowing what had been going on between them in the memos.

--- Later in debate ---

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Order. The time limit is reduced to six minutes.

--- Later in debate ---

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Order. The time limit is being reduced to four minutes in order to accommodate more Members.

--- Later in debate ---

[Hon. Members]

Sit down!

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Order. Sir George Young has made it clear that he is not giving way. Will the House calm down in order for us to hear him?

--- Later in debate ---

[Hon. Members]

Sit down!

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Order. I call Sir George Young.

[Sir George Young]

Nothing could be designed by the civil service that could come close to that level of scrutiny.