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Speakership: House Committee Report

My Lords, the decision has been taken. We have had to live without the hereditary Peers and the House has not folded up and disappeared. For goodness’ sake, if we are going to have this person, do not belittle them from the start. They simply must have dignity in the position which has been created. I certainly concur with what the last speaker said about them receiving, for instance, the American president or any president from a foreign country. It has been a most dignified affair until now, and I would hate to see the sort of scratching and biting that is going on—whether in the press or in this Chamber—belittling something that is going to happen and damn well ought to have been done with dignity. I beg of your Lordships not to reduce it to the amount of money proposed by my noble friend but to make it a reasonable sum. Who knows, perhaps he might get a dress allowance.