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Members' Home Addresses

This is far too much excitement for an Adjournment debate. There is obviously also too much excitement in politics in the constituency of the hon. Member for New Forest, East (Dr. Lewis), although he rather lost me when he was going on about the mayor of Ringwood, which sounds like a veterinary equine condition. I pay tribute to the hon. Gentleman, who is not only one of the most fastidious Members, but one of the most respectful, and indeed the most fastidiously respectful of hon. Members. I have never found him intimidating, not even when he has been trying to be intimidating, so I am delighted that he has managed to see off the gentleman in his constituency. I am also fascinated by the idea of having a nom de plume. It sounds like having a nom de guerre, and again is far too exciting. I have also never known anyone be quite so public about being private about their address. I can be dispassionate on this issue as mine is the only constituency in the country in which both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have lost their deposits on the same occasion. I, too, increased my majority at the last election, and I am sure that that had nothing to do with anything on the internet—[Laughter.] It pays to advertise. We can agree on many issues in this debate. First, the armed forces parliamentary scheme should not be taken lightly. It has provided an invaluable service for many hon. Members, including me, who would otherwise know very little of the armed forces, and we should thank Sir Neil Thorne. Secondly, the security of all hon. Members and their families and staff—we should not forget them—is a very serious matter. There have been very serious incidents in the past that the Liberal Democrats and other parties have had to face. That is a matter for the whole House. In my own case, I had a stalker turn up outside my front door in London who had to be removed by the police. He rang me up and asked, "Is that Chris Bryant?" I said, "Yes." He said, "I'm Malcolm, I'm outside." I told him to go away. He said, "I'm very submissive." I used an expletive and he said, "I'm not that submissive." The police took him away. On a second occasion, someone was sent to prison for harassment, not because they were particularly aggressive towards me, but because they were making it impossible for me to do my job at my surgery. All hon. Members will be aware of cases in their constituencies where they have had to deal with people who have mental health problems or who are fixated on them. It is incumbent on the whole political community to work together to ensure that such situations do not infect the body politic. The House took a clear decision, on a free vote, to change the law in relation to candidates and whether they had to put their full address on the ballot. It is permissive, and if people want to put their address on they can do so. There were 235 votes in favour of changing the law and only 176 against. We also introduced a statutory instrument under the freedom of information legislation to ensure that Members' residential addresses could be kept secure for the obvious reasons that the hon. Gentleman has elucidated. I think we can all agree that police time should not be wasted on nonsense such as this. We can also agree that a free press is absolutely vital, but with a free press must surely come the duty to be accurate, to tell the whole story and to give the opportunity for a right of reply. Finally, and most importantly of all, politics is an honourable profession and it should be entered into honestly and with magnanimity. When we show magnanimity across the House, we earn the respect of all voters. Question put and agreed to.