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Christopher Traynor

Thank you, Sir Nicholas. I support everything that my right hon. Friend the Member for Makerfield (Mr. McCartney) said. It has been a privilege, although that might sound like a strange word to use, for myself and Ann McCartney, a member of my staff, to be associated with the Traynor family, because they purvey a great sense of dignity in the light of all those harrowing circumstances that my right hon. Friend has described. Most of the issues and unanswered questions, which are too numerous to enumerate, have been mentioned, but there are still a lot more questions about this tragic death that need to be answered. In supporting my right hon. Friend, I, too, urge my hon. Friend the Minister to speak to us and give us an opportunity to elaborate a bit more on the combined knowledge that we all have and to set up an inquiry, because the circumstances are horrifying. I have been in public life now for some 45 years and I find it difficult to think of a more poignant, tragic case than this, which the family has borne with great dignity. It might be a mixture of spiritual and human factors, but one of the tragedies about death is always that it is a good thing to grieve. We often derive our comfort from grief in these circumstances. I do not need to tell hon. and right hon. Members that the more tragic the circumstances of a death, the more necessary it is to grieve properly and with dignity. Winnie Traynor and her family have not had that opportunity. I am making a plea today on their behalf, because Parliament, the Foreign Office and my hon. Friend the Minister have it in their power to move things on a bit, to coin a phrase. All we are seeking, at the end of the day, is the truth. We want the truth. My right hon. Friend mentioned the coroner's report, which is a key factor. The first responses that we had from the coroner early on were not too helpful, but it has all changed now and the dawn—the realisation of truth—is coming through and permeating. I want us, as a Government, to take this opportunity to get the full facts revealed to allow the Traynor family to grieve with dignity and with some notion of peace.