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Bribery Bill [HL]

My Lords, there is very considerable unclarity in the amendment itself, but I have every respect for, and sympathy with, the motivations of the noble Lord, Lord Henley, in this matter. One point has not been made; namely, that there are treaty obligations here. The United Kingdom has subscribed to the OECD convention that seeks to prevent the corruption of foreign officials. Therefore, it seems to me that to a large extent we are governed by the structure of that convention in so far as the nomenclature of this clause is concerned. I am sure that this matter can be handled very properly by prosecutorial discretion. Indeed, we rely on that in so many areas of the criminal law. When I looked at the wording of paragraph (b) of the amendment, "modest in amount", I thought of that famous cartoon in Punch of about 100 years ago, when the housemaid says, "But it was only a very small baby", when charged with what was regarded as rather improper conduct.