---

Administration Committee

Yes, they are paid as well, as the hon. Gentleman helpfully observes from a sedentary position. In response to the inevitable inquiry, ““Grandma or Grandpa, what did you do today?””, the Whips will be able proudly to say to their grandchildren, ““Well, I managed to stitch up the membership of a Select Committee, and we had to make a choice between the good boys and good girls on the one hand and the bad boys and the bad girls on the other.”” An intelligent grandson or granddaughter will say, ““Oh, I understand what you mean, Grandpa—that the good boys and good girls are those who ask helpful and intelligent questions and go about their work and responsibilities independently of the respective Front Benchers””. At that point, the senior Whip will say, ““No, no, no, you quite misunderstand the purpose of our work in constructing Select Committees. We want people who are, in Sir Humphrey’s terms, ‘sound’—people who will do things in a way that we approve of””.