Mr John Jennings: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Is it right that any hon. Member of this House, whether from the Front Bench or the back benches, should take up so long, whatever the merits of the question? Is it right that he should take up such a long time in the 15 minutes allowed for Prime Minister's Questions?
Mr John Jennings: Does the hon. Gentleman remember that marvellous dictum of Sir Stafford Cripps about a previous Labour Government—"We staggered from crisis to crisis"?
Mr John Jennings: I begin on a note of congratulation to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Sparkbrook (Mr. Hattersley) on the moderation of his speech and his honest attempt to make it factual. I think he made a sincere attempt to set the tone of the debate on a low key. He succeeded. We have deviated once or twice in the debate from that low key on both sides of the House, but I hope that I can proceed in a...
Mr John Jennings: I thank the hon. Gentleman for making part of my speech for me and emphasising that the last Labour Government made cuts. He has no right to upbraid me for not opposing my own Government in making cuts in education or anything else, but tonight I am going to be fair to both sides. I was pointing out that we have all been here before and that today we hear repetitions of the arguments of...
Mr John Jennings: There are many other towns and villages in the country than Ealing. I am talking about country areas where the village schools have a great rôle to play in our education system. They have a right to exist. My plea for the village schools ties up with other problems. We must always bear in mind the difficulties of transporting five-year-old children six or seven miles in a bus on a cold, dark...
Mr John Jennings: The hon. Member for Ealing, North must not think I am daft. When I talk about villages I am not talking of London. I know that there are "villages" in London, such as Greenwich and Shepherd Market, which is a village in the West End, but I am not referring to those. I am talking of enlarged county areas. I deplore the passing of the village school. I was headmaster of a village school, and...
Mr John Jennings: Will my right hon. Friend recognise that this is a friendly question which contains a warm invitation? Does he know that my birthday is 10th February? In his future programme of meetings, will he consider visiting one of the breweries in Burton to celebrate my birthday with me during the first half of February? If he cannot manage 10th February, can he manage either of two dates on which I am...
Mr John Jennings: Will my right hon. Friend consider scrapping the debate on Monday on the landscaping of New Palace Yard, and substituting for it a debate on the rights of the private individual, with specific reference to the type of advice that Ministers would give to private individuals who legitimately drive up to a garage to get petrol and are refused it when they know quite well that others are being...
Mr John Jennings: Is that salary or pension?
Mr John Jennings: I wish to begin by making two personal comments. First, I wish to declare an interest in that I am a teacher Member sponsored by the National Union of Teachers. There are two such hon. Members on the Conservative side of the House and four in a similar position on the benches opposite. It is wise, within the context of this debate, to make clear what are the responsibilities of an...
Mr John Jennings: You should know.
Mr John Jennings: I beg your pardon, Mr. Mallalieu. I should know how to address the Chair. The hon. Gentleman should know very well that there is payment because one of his colleagues was sponsored by the National Association of Schoolmasters and made a personal statement about it a short while ago. If my colleagues question this let me say that party funds benefit from such sponsorship at election times in a...
Mr John Jennings: He always comes back. The hon. Gentleman asked, "Why the change in heart? Why the U-turn?" There is a good, strong reason. It is that my right hon. Friend has won her fight. Her fight against whom? First of all it was the Treasury.
Mr John Jennings: The right hon. Gentleman should know that far better than I. She has won her battle there, and that is why there is the change. She could not come to the House and say that she intended to try to do this until she was more sure of her ground. The second battle she had to fight, particularly on the war pensions issue, was against the host of Whitehall Departments who said, "If you do that...
Mr John Jennings: The hon. Gentleman is so naïve, parliamentarily and politically. He must know that while a Minister is performing a holding operation with a problem a facade has to be put up.
Mr John Jennings: Liberal hon. Members would not know that. But right hon. and hon. Members of the Labour Party know quite well that this is true and that it was a holding operation. While my right hon. Friend was preparing the ground and fighting her battle, she could not announce the result until she was sure of it. I take my hat off to her. She is a bonny fighter. I turn to the question of funding raised...
Mr John Jennings: When will my right hon. Friend be in a position to make a statement on the future of the Select Committee on Public Petitions?
Mr John Jennings: May I ask my right hon. and learned Friend a simple, straightforward question? What parliamentary enactment would make metrication legal?
Mr John Jennings: When I intervened in the speech of my right hon. and learned Friend the Minister for Trade and Consumer Affairs to ask what parliamentary enactment would make metrication legal, it turned out to be a crucial question. It was followed by speeches which developed the theme and which rebutted the planned and highly technical answer of my right hon. and learned Friend. In effect he said that...
Mr John Jennings: I disagree with people who say, as did my hon. Friend the Member for Cannock (Mr. Cormack), that metrication is unavoidable. The House is all-powerful, and the sooner it realises that, the better. If back-bench Members unite on metrication against the two Front Benches they could stop them. It is no good the Government saying that we are powerless. Why have the Government never given us a...
