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Tribute to Mr. Speaker

Thank you, Mr. Speaker—thank you, dear friend. I particularly wanted to be here today. Having been here from the beginning—with some difficulty, I might add—I wanted to see this particular part of your career all the way through to the end. I wanted to be here because, right at the beginning of this part of your career, many people said that you were not the best Speaker for this House. If they have been listening carefully today, they will have heard why we all beg to differ. Having heard what everyone else has said, perhaps I should sit down, because everything has been said. But I am a politician, and I want to put my two penn'orth in. My two penn'orth goes a bit like this. When I first came here, you were a Deputy Speaker. Your kindness and friendship towards all of us endeared you to us greatly, and, when Speaker Boothroyd said that she was standing down, I knew straight away that you were my first and automatic choice to be Speaker. I knew automatically that the warmth that you had shown to us while you were a Deputy Speaker would transfer into the post that you now hold. Later, you asked me to be a member of the Advisory Panel on Members' Allowances, and you showed the wisdom that you have shown throughout in regard to what that job became. The House should remember that that wisdom entailed an openness that people perhaps did not see when they were writing their stories. You invited every Member of this House into your chambers. Some of their suggestions were novel, ranging from a proposal to abolish all allowances to the idea of examining the minutiae of every allowance and accounting for every penny. In the end, our panel came up with suggestions that we gave to the Members Estimate Committee, some of which were accepted, some of which were not. It has been suggested today that we have ended up with a reasonable set of proposals. We might now say that all that is history, but throughout that process, you never said anything publicly. That is the mark of you, the man—a man I admire greatly. Sometimes, I became frustrated with you, my dear friend, because you never once said anything to defend yourself. I would say, "Oh, come on! Say something!", but you would always say, "No, Kali, this is about the House. The House is the star of this show." It was never you, Mr. Speaker, and I admire you for that so much. You never allowed anyone to try to understand you—only the House. Here we are now, standing in judgment over you, and I hope that everyone will say that you have not been found wanting. We should all admire you very much for the work that you have done for the House. I will never find you wanting. You are indeed a great man, and a great and true friend.