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Political Parties and Elections Bill

I shall intervene briefly. The principle of the Dodo in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is being exercised, in that everyone is claiming credit for everything that is happening. I compliment the noble Baroness, Lady Gould of Potternewton, who is sitting opposite me. In 1989, when it was clear that things needed to be done and that they should be carried through by consensus before the Summer Recess, Douglas Hurd, now my noble friend Lord Hurd, who was Home Secretary, delegated to me in my capacity as chairman of the Conservative Party the task of negotiating with the noble Baroness, Lady Gould of Potternewton, who had been appointed by Roy Hattersley—now the noble Lord, Lord Hattersley—the shadow Home Secretary, to deal with the matter. We dealt with it with extreme dispatch. We changed the limits for expenses in by- elections, as agents of all parties were being threatened with prison by virtue of excessive expenditure, and we had no difficulty at all in reaching agreement. I notice that my noble friend Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts has tabled another amendment, in relation to which we will return to that discussion, but that is not for today.