Tributes to the Speaker

Debate between Roger Gale and John Bercow

Thursday 31st October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Sir Roger Gale (North Thanet) (Con)]

Mr Speaker, a couple of days ago, you commended me for my brevity, so let me be brief. Two weeks ago you were kind enough—or possibly unkind enough—to remind me that I was the longest serving member of the Panel of Chairs. Let me say on behalf of that panel, thank you for your guidance and wisdom over very many years of service. All your friends on the panel wish you and your family well in your retirement.

[Mr Speaker]

Thank you. I call the Mother of the House, Harriet Harman.

Tributes to the Speaker’s Chaplain

Debate between Roger Gale and John Bercow

Thursday 31st October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Sir Roger Gale (North Thanet) (Con)]

I have always thought that the job of the Speaker’s Chaplain is rather like the job of the person known as “the bish” on one of Her Majesty’s warships. That person prowls around the lower decks, surrounded by heathens and heretics, waiting for somebody to call upon him. I guess that this place, particularly in the last few months, has been just a little bit like that. But the wonderful thing about Rose is that she has always been there to be called on when she is needed, and through some very stressful times for everyone on both sides of the House she has been a tower of strength.

You guys and girls have come to say goodbye to Rose. I have come to say hello. As my hon. Friend the Member for Worthing West (Sir Peter Bottomley) said, the Bishop of Dover is the Bishop in Canterbury. Let me also say, just as an aside, that earlier today, during questions to the Church Commissioner, it was asked, “How does the Archbishop of Canterbury manage when he has so much to do, not only at home but overseas?” The answer is, of course, that he is not the Bishop in Canterbury. That will be Rose, and I know that she will be a tower of strength to Archbishop Justin, as she has been to this place.

But Rose is coming to east Kent, and I have warned the lady who is going to become Bishop Rose that one of her first duties will be to visit the wonderful constituency of North Thanet, and to spend a happy couple of hours on Margate’s seafront—in January, when the rain and the wind and the snow will almost certainly be horizontal. That is when we in Margate celebrate the Blessing of the Seas. That is the occasion, on the feast of the Epiphany, when we throw a small Greek Cypriot boy into the freezing waters of the North sea and—so far without success—try to drown him. The Bishop of Dover—the Bishop in Canterbury—plays a key role in that event. Rose, we are looking forward enormously to welcoming you to east Kent.

[Mr Speaker]

That speech was typical of the hon. Gentleman. Thank you.

Points of Order

Debate between Roger Gale and John Bercow

Monday 28th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I think the safest answer to that question—I appreciate the hon. Gentleman’s concern—is that it would very much be a matter for local determination. There is, of course, a difference between a sitting Member and a selected or re-selected candidate for Parliament. How that matter is treated in individual constituencies will, I think, rather depend on those organising the services. My advice to the hon. Gentleman is that, with the beatific smile for which he is renowned in all parts of the House and appropriate courtesy at local level, he should make inquiries and he may find satisfaction.

[Sir Roger Gale (North Thanet) (Con)]

Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. That is an important point. It is in your gift I believe, Mr Speaker, to determine whether Members, or perhaps former Members in the case of an election, are allowed to use the Portcullis wreaths. Could you determine that for us, please?

[Mr Speaker]

I will certainly take advice on it—I am very grateful to the right hon. Gentleman—and if, having taken advice, I have something to report to him and to the House, I will.

Preparations for Leaving the EU

Debate between Roger Gale and John Bercow

Tuesday 8th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Looking at me imploringly, and now to be heard, is the longest-serving member of the Speaker’s Panel of Chairs: Sir Roger Gale.

[Sir Roger Gale (North Thanet) (Con)]

You will recall, Mr Speaker, that some weeks ago you afforded me the opportunity to ask the Prime Minister what provision would be made for pension uprating, healthcare and benefits for expat UK citizens. My letter seeking a clarification of the broad-brush answer awaits a response, but I have had the opportunity to read the no-deal readiness report, and not one word in it offers long-term comfort to the thousands of now increasingly frightened and elderly UK citizens living within the rest of the EU. This is not a matter of reciprocal arrangements; it is within the clear gift of the United Kingdom Government to look after our own people. Will my right hon. Friend give a clear undertaking that that will be done?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Roger Gale and John Bercow

Monday 15th July 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call Sir Roger Gale.

[Sir Roger Gale (North Thanet) (Con)]

Topical Question 1, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

No, no, no; the right hon. Gentleman is ahead of himself. He is working on the basis that we always stick to time, which is not an unreasonable assumption except that it suffers from the disadvantage in factual terms of being wrong.

[Sir Roger Gale]

11. What steps he is taking to counter hostile state activity in the UK.

[The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Sajid Javid)]

Across Government, we are taking a broad range of legislative, diplomatic and operational action to prevent, disrupt and deter hostile state activity.

[Mr Speaker]

The right hon. Member for North Thanet (Sir Roger Gale) will have Topical Question 1 as well, so he will get two bites at the cherry and he will have nothing about which to complain.

[Sir Roger Gale]

A wonderful opportunity! Scarcely cricket, but a wonderful opportunity.

Following the attempted poisonings in Salisbury, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister took robust action to secure the dismissal from the United Kingdom and other European countries of Russian spies posing as diplomats. There is some reason to suppose that that network is now being rebuilt. Without asking my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary to give details of the work of MI5, may I ask him to give us a reassurance that it is very firmly on the case?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Roger Gale and John Bercow

Tuesday 20th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Sir Roger Gale (North Thanet) (Con)]

Thanet enjoys an ageing population and I am pleased to be a part of it. We will be delighted to know that one of the five new medical schools designated by the Secretary of State today is going to be based in east Kent: the bid from the University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University was successful. It will not have escaped my right hon. Friend’s notice that the Christ Church campus is in close proximity to an A&E hospital— the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital—and we hope very much to see all the benefits very soon. Thank you.

[Mr Speaker]

May I just say to the hon. Gentleman that if memory serves me correctly, he was born on 20 August 1943, and therefore, he is really not very old at all?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Roger Gale and John Bercow

Monday 23rd October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I see the Minister of State is enjoying the benefits of family encouragement. This is something that we enthusiastically welcome.

[Sir Roger Gale (North Thanet) (Con)]

In welcoming my hon. Friend’s assurance that the future of our amphibious capability is under active and positive consideration, may I say, as one who has been privileged to spend a little bit of time on HMS Bulwark, that she is a magnificent fighting ship? She punches well above her weight. She has served this nation very well, and to remove her from service would be an absolute tragedy.

Southern Rail

Debate between Roger Gale and John Bercow

Monday 5th December 2016 Commons Chamber

[Sir Roger Gale (North Thanet) (Con)]

I apologise for my interjection earlier, Mr Speaker. My hon. Friend the Member for South West Bedfordshire (Andrew Selous) was absolutely right to say that the price for the RMT’s self-indulgent, politically motivated strike action is being paid in jobs by people, particularly young people, who are trying to get to work. This action is neanderthal, its day has well gone and that strike must end. Will the Minister confirm that the train operating companies will be able to take greater control of the works of Network Rail in the future, so that we can solve some of the structural problems?

[Mr Speaker]

I thank the hon. Member for North Thanet (Sir Roger Gale) for his great courtesy. May I gently tell him that I now realise why, 20 years ago, he was affectionately described to me by a very near constituency neighbour of his as “peppery”.

Points of Order

Debate between Roger Gale and John Bercow

Tuesday 28th June 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I certainly would not discuss on the Floor of the House applications for urgent questions—as colleagues will understand, it is a long-standing convention that those matters are not the subject of exchanges on the Floor—but I can say to the hon. Gentleman that I have received no indication from any Minister of an intention to make a statement on HS2. He will know that I am very conscious of requests from Ministers to make statements, and never would I be more likely to be aware of such an intention than in relation to HS2, but there has been no such notification of intent to my office to date.

[Sir Roger Gale (North Thanet) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Members of Parliament are being bombarded with electronic communications from Team Trump on behalf of somebody called Donald Trump. I am all in favour of free speech, but I do not see why colleagues on either side of the House should be subjected to intemperate spam. Efforts to have them deleted have failed. Would you be kind enough to intercede with the Parliamentary Digital Service to see whether they might be blocked?

[Mr Speaker]

First, may I commiserate with the hon. Gentleman who, as far as I can tell, has undergone an irritating and—some might think—exceptionally tedious experience? I am grateful to him for notice of his point of order. All hon. Members receive large numbers of emails and will have devised ways of dealing with the flow. However, while this is not directly a point of order for the Chair, I do not think it acceptable that Members should be bombarded with emails the content of which is offensive. I will ensure that members of the Parliamentary Digital Service, who have the facility to block certain types of email, are made aware of this issue. Moreover, I shall ensure that they contact the hon. Gentleman. In so responding to him, I emphasise that other right hon. and hon. Members might also wish to avail themselves of this service.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Roger Gale and John Bercow

Thursday 26th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Sir Roger Gale (North Thanet) (Con)]

The aerospace industry is important not only to Pendle but to many constituencies in the United Kingdom. With that in mind I welcome the proposal to extend an enterprise zone to cover Manston airport, for aviation-related purposes only. I hope that the Secretary of State will feel able to give every possible encouragement to reopen the airport so that we can take advantage of that.

[Mr Speaker]

Possibly including flights to Pendle—you never know.

Points of Order

Debate between Roger Gale and John Bercow

Wednesday 31st October 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir Roger Gale (North Thanet) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. It has not escaped the notice of this member of the Procedure Committee—and I doubt that it has escaped yours—that during topical questions to the Secretary of State for International Development, two of the questions were put by Front-Bench spokesmen and neither of them was topical in its content. There is a grave danger, is there not, that the whole purpose of topical questions might be undermined if they are monopolised by Front-Bench spokesmen instead of Back Benchers?

[Mr Speaker]

What I would say to the hon. Gentleman is that I always keep a beady eye on these matters. I will reflect carefully on what he has said. It has been a practice of long standing for Opposition Front Benchers to come in to an extent, but there is a balance to be struck and I am very happy to consider whether that balance is right. I accept the point of order in the spirit in which it has been volunteered to the House by the hon. Gentleman, who is a member of the Procedure Committee and who is now, I think, the most senior member of the Panel of Chairs.

Points of Order

Debate between Roger Gale and John Bercow

Thursday 15th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

My response to the hon. Gentleman is as follows. First, he has a beady eye and is a keen student of detail, and I am not in any way surprised that he is familiar with the detail of the consultation document and has studied the various numbered paragraphs. He has made his point, and it is open to the Leader of the House to respond if he wishes, and perhaps to accept that on that factual point the hon. Gentleman is correct.

Secondly, the hon. Gentleman refers to the Standing Committee on the Civil Partnerships Bill and suggests that I might remember that experience. That experience is etched upon my mind and is likely to remain so permanently, because I remember serving on the said Standing Committee with the hon. Gentleman, and it was—shall we say?—an immensely stimulating and, some might think, a protracted experience.

I feel sure that the hon. Gentleman will find further opportunities to develop his points—on that issue, on the issue as a whole and on particular points that are of concern to him today—in the weeks and months ahead, in the Chamber and possibly elsewhere. If the Leader of the House wants to respond, he can—[Interruption.] But he does not wish to do so.

[Sir Roger Gale (North Thanet) (Con)]

Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. Just as a matter of information, you will recall that I had the great privilege of chairing the Civil Partnerships Bill Committee, and the memory of my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Mr Chope) and, I believe, your own is absolutely correct.

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for confirming the memory of the hon. Member for Christchurch (Mr Chope) and my own. I just mention in dispatches that of course I remember the chairmanship of the Committee by the hon. Member for North Thanet (Sir Roger Gale), which was frankly unrivalled in its brilliance and in its tolerance—characteristic tolerance, of course. We will leave it there.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Roger Gale and John Bercow

Tuesday 25th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Following reference to him, let us hear from the hon. Member for North Thanet (Mr Gale).

[Mr Roger Gale (North Thanet) (Con)]

The outcome of the first Arab spring elections in Tunisia at the weekend is likely to have an effect throughout the middle east, most particularly in Egypt where elections are supposed to be held next month. It is early days yet; we do not know the results, but given the likelihood of a significant dominance by the Ennahda party in Tunisia, what assessment has my hon. Friend managed to make already of the likely effects upon the situation in Egypt and elsewhere?

Welfare Reform

Debate between Roger Gale and John Bercow

Thursday 11th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. There is much interest in this statement, but great pressure on parliamentary time, so brevity from Back-Bench and Front-Bench Members alike is essential.

[Mr Roger Gale (North Thanet) (Con)]

The introduction of workfare is about 25 years overdue. I congratulate my right hon. Friend on grasping that nettle and I hope that he will not let go of it. One aspect that he did not touch on was the operation of the jobcentres. Jobcentres are no longer jobcentres, but benefit-processing centres. Will he say just a little about how he intends to address that issue?