---

Business of the House

May we have a statement from the Leader of the House herself on the basic standards of ethics expected from hon. Members when they endorse scurrilous charges in the press against the personal conduct of other hon. Members? I declare a personal interest in this, because the day before the vote on secrecy of Members' home addresses, an article appeared in the sleaziest tabloid in Britain, accusing me of hypocrisy, lying and abuse of the parliamentary housing allowance. Those issues are for another time, but at the end of the article was a statement by an hon. Member whom I do not propose to name today, and who is not present even though I warned him that I was going to raise this issue. The article said that he""fumed: 'This is all further evidence that the second homes allowance has to be tightened up so the public can have confidence MPs only claim what they need.' "" That was a clear endorsement of the charges. He has now written to me and said:""I can confirm that I did not see the final story before it appeared and was unaware of much of its contents."" I believe that this is despicable behaviour, and I would like a statement from the Leader of the House to advise hon. Members at least of basic standards of decency towards other hon. Members.