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Report from the House of Commons Reform Committee on Rebuilding the House

I believe that political parties have a philosophy, within which there could be a very broad church. From time to time, people will not necessarily agree with the view expressed by their party or even with a policy that it proposes. With due notice and appropriate discussion, if they need to vote against that policy or the view expressed by their party, not to do so in the House undermines its whole credibility and their role as Members of Parliament. I pay to tribute to the vision and focus of the late Robin Cook. I had the pleasure to serve on the Modernisation Committee under his chairmanship when he was Leader of the House. He was an exceptional person to work with. He knew where he wanted to go; we might not have agreed with him, but he listened to us, and at the end of the day, we were perhaps persuaded by the force of his argument. Of course, that leads me on to the next issue that I want to raise: the election of the Chairmen and members of departmental Select Committees by party groups. Robin Cook sought to propose to the House in 2002 a motion that would have led perhaps not quite to what we are debating now and the motions that we will vote on perhaps later. He sought to break the logjam of the dark side of the House—I refer to the Whips Office and perhaps to my experience when I was unseated as the Chairman of the Health Committee because I did what I believed to be right. I believe that the Chairman of a Select Committee is there to guide that Committee to reach conclusions and to make recommendations based on the evidence, both oral and written, that is given to the Committee; he is not there to decide on the prejudice of its individual members. That was not necessarily received very well by my party. However, as one door closed, another opened, and as my right hon. Friend the Member for East Yorkshire knows, I was asked to chair the Procedure Committee. If I were a Member and there was an election to that Committee in the future, I hope that the House, in its wisdom, would elect me to do that job, which I very much enjoyed.