Mr. Speaker, the Opposition are most grateful to the Prime Minister for the motion that she has placed on the Order Paper and for the terms in which she has presented it to the House. The Opposition take a naturally special pride in the way in which you have discharged your functions to the House and to the country. You have brought nothing but honour and distinction to the high office to which you were elected. We are grateful for that. As the Prime Minister said, thanks to the introduction of the broadcasting of the proceedings of the House, which is not necessarily an unmitigated boon, a special flavour has been given to the way in which the business of the House has been conducted, and the bewitching and appeasing lilt of Tonypandy has been heard across the entire country and perhaps across the entire world. It has given a special colour to the affairs of the House.

Only a few weeks ago, Mr. Speaker, I paid a visit to your home town of Tonypandy to commemorate the services given to the House by the former right hon. Member for Rhondda, Alec Jones. I am sure that if he were present he would be one of the first and most eager of hon. Members to join in the tributes to you. He had special knowledge of your service to the House. He also had special knowledge of how much your election as Speaker of the House meant to the people of Tonypandy and of the way in which you discharged your duties.

I recall that some time ago I went to Cardiff where your Speakership was also celebrated. It celebrated the special combination of qualities that you have brought to the office—qualities of wit, humour, practical experience, Welsh courtesy and Welsh guile, all in their special quantities. I assure you that they have all been appreciated.

I had a special opportunity of seeking some of those qualities in action as I attended some meetings or functions when my right hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff, South-East (Mr. Callaghan) was Prime Minister and you were Speaker. They gave to me, as a naive politician from the valleys, an insight into the way in which Cardiff politics are conducted, which I have never forgotten and never betrayed.

The most famous of all speeches ever made by any of your distinguished predecessors was that made by Speaker Lenthall on the most famous of occasions when the rights of the House were protected. All right hon. and hon. Members know the speech. Speaker Lenthall said: May it please Your Majesty, I have neither eyes to see, nor tongue to speak in this place, but as the House is pleased to direct me, whose servant I am here;". That, I am sure, is what you, Mr. Speaker, would have said on that occasion if you had been in charge. It is a good lesson for all subsequent Speakers. I shall not press the comparison too strongly because Speaker Lenthall, despite his great service to the House and country on that occasion, was subsequently involved in financial dealings that led to an investigation. He wavered in his party allegiance, although I am not sure in which direction. He ended up in Oliver Cromwell's House of Lords. I do not know whether any such fate is to befall you, Mr. Speaker.

You, Mr. Speaker, have always followed the traditions of Speaker Lenthall in defending and sustaining the rights of the House with a peculiar grace and charm that nobody else could have matched. There is a Methodism in your magnificence. It will be extremely difficult for anybody to follow in your footsteps. I pity your successor, for you have followed, which it is not always possible to achieve, a straight and narrow path to a destination of universal acclaim. Some right hon. and hon. Members wish that we could do the same.

I am sure, Mr. Speaker, that you will carry away from this occasion the good wishes of us all. We wish to see you on many occasions in the future. We consider that you still have a great contribution to make to the political life of the country. Nobody could have given their services to the House and to the country more generously and more magnanimously than you.