Mr. Speaker-Elect
(standing on the upper step) Before I take the Chair, I should like to thank the House [column 12]for the great honour that it has bestowed upon me. As long as I retain the confidence of the House, I dedicate myself unreservedly to its service.
Mr. Speaker-Elect
sat down in the Chair.
Then the Mace (which before lay under the Table) was placed upon the Table.
The Prime Minister (Mrs. Margaret Thatcher)
Bernard WeatherillMr. Speaker-Elect, you are, I believe, the 154th Speaker that this House has met to elect, many of them more than once. It is more than 600 years since the Commons met at Westminster just after sunrise to elect men such as Sir Thomas Hungerford or Sir Peter de la Mare to speak on their behalf. And so today we are keeping one of the oldest and most fundamental traditions of the House, fortunately a little later in the day than some of our ancestors.
There are, by now, few if any original ways in which to congratulate you on achieving the highest office that the House can bestow. However, we do so wholeheartedly and wish you well in carrying out your exacting duties.
The office of Speaker is more than a tradition. It is an office whose burdens have changed and increased with the times as result of the growing number of hon. Members and the longer hours that we spend here. Additional pressures have come with the broadcasting of our proceedings to the ears of the world. Your call for order will quickly become as famous as that of your predecessor, albeit in a different intonation and with a different accent.
With the changes that there have been in the House over the years, it is no longer safe to rely on the words of Mr. Speaker Yelverton who, some 400 years ago, described the qualities that he thought his office required. They were “a voice great, a carriage majestical, a nature haughty and a purse plentiful.” That would not do today. Such qualities, if they could all be found in the same person, would hardly win the confidence, respect and love of the House. Indeed, that is hardly an accurate description of Mr. Speaker Yelverton who described himself as “small, his voice low, his carriage lawyer-like and of a common fashion, his nature soft, his purse thin, light and never yet plentiful.” That feeling will be familiar to several hon. Members.
Whatever our ancestors may have had to say about the qualities required to be Speaker, each of your predecessors, Mr. Speaker-Elect, has brought his own ability and style and each has risen to the demands of his great office. It is true that some may have been executed, that one may have been canonised and that some may have become Prime Ministers, but they have all seen it as their foremost duty to protect our liberties and, in the biblical phrase, to see that all things are “done decently and in order” .
You, Mr. Speaker-Elect, bring to the Chair your unique experience. You have served some three apprenticeships and each has led to mastery of the craft. One led, as you have already said, to your becoming a master tailor. I believe that you still carry the thimble that you used as an apprentice as a symbol of dedication to learning and of the custom among earlier master tailors that if they carried the tool of their trade they could always pick up a little business on the way. Doubtless in your new occupation there will be occasions when a stitch in time will save nine.
Another apprenticeship was served in wartime when you served in the Indian Army in one of the original [column 13]Bengal Lancer cavalry regiments. You took the trouble to master Urdu. That accomplishment enabled you later to establish a fruitful and abiding sympathy for the Asian community in your constituency and in the country. Your special concern for minorities which that record reflects will be well used in your Speakership.
Last but not least, you have served your apprenticeship in the House. I remember a debate one Friday afternoon, which you secured by chance, which you devoted to the then little publicised topic of small businesses. It led directly to the setting up of the famous Bolton committee. You thus understand the aspirations of the many Back Benchers, whether they be in the majority or in the minority, who want to make a similar mark in the service of their constituents and others whose cause they wish to further.
Moreover, it was a remarkable transition to move successfully, as you have done, Mr. Speaker-Elect, from the party work of Deputy Government Chief Whip to the absolute impartiality that is required of the Chairman of Ways and Means. That you were unanimously endorsed by the House for that post speaks volumes for the trust and regard in which you are held by your colleagues. I am sure that the Opposition Deputy Chief Whip, the right hon. Member for Wakefield (Mr. Harrison) will echo that. As Deputy Speaker you served the last stage of your apprenticeship in the Chair.
We believe that your qualities of friendliness and devotion to the rules and traditions of the Chair will make you a worthy master of one of the most difficult tasks that anyone is called upon to perform—that of regulating the affairs of our House with firmness, fairness and good humour. We give you our earnest and unstinting support and wish you well as the foremost member of this, the foremost House of Commons.