3.45 p.m.
Mrs. Margaret Thatcher (Finchley)
George ThomasMr. Speaker-Elect, I welcome and congratulate you as our 153rd Speaker. It is 600 years since Sir Peter de la Mare was elected by the Commons to act as their spokesman. You have now attained the highest office that the House can bestow on one of its Members.
You will occupy the Chair with pride—pride on behalf of your constituents and your beloved Wales, which you have served so long and so well.
Your Methodist connections have been referred to, and my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Hertfordshire, East (Sir D. Walker-Smith) has already given you some advice about the text to select for your next sermon. After you have become Mr. Speaker, you will no doubt consider taking as another text a passage from Proverbs, Chapter 17, which must have been designed for Speakers:
“He that hath knowledge spareth his words.”
In your apprenticeship as Deputy Speaker, the House has already seen you apply that impartiality, dignity and judgment which are the essential equipment of your office.
This is not a party political day; it is a House of Commons occasion. I am happy to follow the lead of a former Tory Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel, in earnestly supporting a Speaker from a different party. Sir Robert said that in an election for the Chair the needs of the [column 1164]House should be put first. In that same spirit we join in honouring you today as the Speaker of our choice.
Like the right hon. Member for Devon, North (Mr. Thorpe), I have been looking at precedents for Welsh Speakers—indeed, I think that we have all been looking at the same books! Mr. Speaker William Williams, the first Welsh Speaker, has already been mentioned in connection with a Member called Sir Robert Peyton. In contrast to his behaviour the House will be aware of the gentle and peaceloving nature of my right hon. Friend the Member for Yeovil (Mr. Peyton).
Many people have spoken and written of the qualities required of a Speaker. Some Speakers have had exceptional qualities. Others, in the words of one commentator, have had not so much rare qualities but
“common qualities in a rare degree” .
Whichever it be, Speaker after Speaker in history has risen to the demands of great and sometimes unexpected parliamentary occasions.
Mr. Speaker Lenthall, described as an unspectacular lawyer, turned out to be the most spectacular and courageous defender of the rights and liberties of the Commons. Past Speakers have protected our liberties so that we in our turn may be better able to protect and enhance the liberties of the people whom we serve.
As you step into that lonely Chair, Mr. Speaker-Elect, your heart will be full.
It has been said that
“Without the support of the House a Speaker can do nothing; with that support there is little he cannot do.”
We shall give you that support freely and gladly, confident that you will add another illustrious chapter to the history of the great office of Speaker.