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Sir George Young admits Commons committee never 'layed a glove' on Tony Blair.
In a keynote address delivered on parliamentary reform in Parliament last night, the Commons leader said the liaison committee should play a greater role in holding the government to account.
Made up of the chairs of each of the individual Commons select comittees, the liaison committee's most high profile activity is its annual questioning of the prime minister.
But Sir George said he believed the committee had systematically failed to "capitalise on its position" as a "council of the wise".
Himself a former member of the committee, Sir George admitted it had "never layed a glove on Tony Blair". While questioning Gordon Brown had been "tough going".
And he lamented the low level of coverage afforded to the sessions, noting that reporting of one of the meetings was restricted to a brief mention on the BBC's 'Yesterday in Parliament' broadcast.
He said the sessions should be a "win-win" for both Parliament and Downing Street, with backbenchers gaining a valuable opportunity to scrutnise the prime minister and No. 10 gaining a platform to showcase its programme for government.
Among other reforms Sir George outlined were moves to get the public more involved in the legislative process, including the introduction of "public reading" stages in bills and a greater role for petitions.
Echoing the views of the Speaker who gave a speech on the subject last week, Sir George said "turgid" topical debates in the Commons chamber should be replaced with shorter and snappier debates that were "more box office and less am-dram".
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