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Honours System (Reform)

: What has Mark Thatcher done? Well, we know what he has done; we read about it in the papers all the time. But what has he done to warrant that honour? I want to touch on the question of propriety that was alluded to by my Friend the Member for Cannock Chase who chairs the Committee. A historian of great renown took us way back to the early years of the previous century, but the Committee on Standards in Public Life also had something to say about it. As it happens, we had the chair, Sir—Sir!—Alistair Graham, before the Committee only this morning. When the Committee on Standards in Public Life published its fifth report in 1998, it said:"““Abuse of the honours system by the promise of an honour in exchange for a contribution to the funds of a political party has undoubtedly occurred in the course of the twentieth century.””" People should not be shocked; the Committee was just stating the obvious. What has happened over recent years, however, is quite breathtaking. There are people who say that the sale of honours is now almost brazen. When Simon Jenkins came before our Committee, I asked him whether he thought honours were for sale, and he said that that he thought they were. Tom King is a Privy Councillor and former Secretary of State for Defence, with a long and distinguished career in government and in the Conservative party. I asked him whether he thought that honours were for sale, and he thought they were. Many people believe that honours are being traded in the marketplace. We have on the statute book the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925, which was introduced in response to Lloyd George's sale of honours. The Prime Minister was asked only a couple of months ago, in January, whether he believed that the 1925 Act should be reviewed or reformed, and he said that he did not believe so. There has been one conviction—in 1933. Only one conviction. Now we are in a quite unprecedented situation whereby the police have initiated an inquiry to see whether any actions have been taken that contravene the provisions of the Act. It is totally unprecedented. Members of the Public Administration Committee have already met, in camera, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Yates, who is in charge of the investigation. We will see him again next month. I asked the Prime Minister a question at Prime Minister's questions in February. That was after the revelations in The Sunday Times when Mr. Smith was caught by that newspaper's sting. Believing that the reporters might be potential sponsors of city academies, he told them that if they sponsored a few academies, they could get a knighthood, and that if they sponsored a lot of academies, they could get a peerage. Mr. Smith was arrested, but he pleads his innocence and the police are no doubt investigating all that. I asked the Prime Minister in the House of Commons Chamber why it is—