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Royal Marriages and Succession to the Crown (Prevention of Discrimination) Bill

That is self-evidently true. There are a lot of ifs in British history, and I am sure that you do not want me to explore every one of them, Madam Deputy Speaker. We are where we are, as the hon. Member for Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush (Mr. Slaughter) said. Had we been starting from scratch, we probably would not have chosen to start from here, but here is where we are. I often quote my hon. Friend the Member for Aldershot (Mr. Howarth) at such times. He always says, in words that resonate with me, that, to a conservative, if it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change. Today's argument, to me, is about whether it is necessary to change. To make the proposed change, the case for it has to be set out and we have to be wholly persuaded that it is needed. To answer the question put by the hon. Member for Thurrock, I am not yet convinced of the need for the Bill. I understand the motivations behind it, but I am not sure that we have explored fully all its implications. I was interested to hear the hon. Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon say that he supports the monarchy and that the Bill is in no way intended to threaten the monarchy. His point appears to be that it is entirely wrong that the eldest child, because of the accident of having been born female, should not be allowed to become England's monarch. That is a perfectly logical point, but from it, perfectly logically, flows the argument that a person should not be able to become king or queen just because of the accident of their birth into the royal family. The thrust of his argument therefore undermines the monarchy as an institution.