International Women’s Day

Debate between Peter Bottomley and Rosie Winterton

Thursday 7th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

A name was recorded in error, I gather.

[Sir Peter Bottomley (Worthing West) (Con)]

Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. These things sometimes happen when the Tellers cannot count. I once had to confess that I had got something wrong. In those days it mattered, but now it does not seem to.

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that point of order. I suggest that that is the sort of thing best kept quiet, really.

Point of Order

Debate between Peter Bottomley and Rosie Winterton

Thursday 15th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Sir Peter Bottomley (Worthing West) (Con)]

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. May I raise two gentle points of order, which are linked to yesterday’s Official Report?

At column 6WS, under Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, there is the heading “Policy”. It would be helpful if, in the electronic record, which can be accessed online, the words “Fixed odds betting terminals” were put in. At the moment, “Policy” could mean almost anything, and those who are searching for a history of the change in the limits on fixed odds betting terminals might be helped by that addition. Could I ask that that might be considered?

The second point is slightly different. At column 322, at the end of points of order, Mr Speaker said:

“If there are no further points of order, perhaps we can now proceed.”—[Official Report, 14 November 2018; Vol. 649, c. 322.]

However, the same paragraph goes on to him reading out the letter from Sir David Natzler, the Clerk of the House. I wonder whether, in the electronic record, that might be split, and that there might be a separate heading so that those who want to look for that could find it more easily.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that point of order, and I will certainly feed back his comments to Hansard.

Data Protection Bill [Lords]

Debate between Peter Bottomley and Rosie Winterton

Tuesday 15th May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

Order. Before I call the next speaker, may I remind colleagues that this is a short debate? I hope that they bear in mind when making their contributions that it will finish at 3.22 pm.

[Sir Peter Bottomley (Worthing West) (Con)]

I want briefly to say three things.

First, I have brought four successful libel actions against the media. I hope not to have to repeat that. There are many other times that I could have taken action, but chose not to.

Secondly, this House has to choose whether it wants to be Lord Ellenborough, a prosecutor, or William Hone. Their exchanges were well-illustrated in Ben Wilson’s history “The Laughter of Triumph”. In 1817 Hone was prosecuted for seditious blasphemy when he was actually exposing abuse. If given that simple choice, it is right for those in this House, and in the House of Lords, to defend the press—not to say they are in the last-chance saloon, but to back them to hold themselves to the standards they have voluntarily accepted.

Thirdly, I want to make one small point to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on the data protection issue. We must find a way for journalists under the IMPRESS code to have the same data protection rights as those under IPSO. I hope he will remark on that either today or very soon.

We must try to bear it in mind that not every journalist remains consistent. Some of us might today have received a letter from Sir Harold Evans, who was editor of The Sunday Times when Jonathan Aitken and I were the only Conservative MPs to say that John Biffen was wrong to allow the takeover of The Sunday Times to go ahead.

Harold Evans said at that time that he would supply me with information demonstrating that what we were saying was right, but three days later he went in with Rupert Murdoch and we heard no more from him until he wrote his own book saying how he did not really enjoy working with Rupert Murdoch. I would take consistency from many people, but I do not expect it of Sir Harold Evans.