---

Bribery Bill [HL]

My Lords, this hospitality business is extraordinarily difficult. I think that we all realise that. Company A and company B are both attempting to sell a product to a foreign buyer, who says to company B, "I had lunch with company A two days ago and they took me to a Happy Eater". Company B says, "Ah, I think that we can do a bit better than that—we’ve booked a private room in Claridges". I have obviously exaggerated in that case, but where do we go and how do we get round the problem and where do we draw the line? We do not want the Claridges syndrome to work but, equally, it must be reasonable to take them to the Onslow Arms as opposed to the Happy Eater.