House Magazine Diary
Sunday 1st March
After an all too brief weekend (I arrived home at six on Friday evening) with our younger son and his family I leave after breakfast on Sunday morning. I do hate leaving the country after these short weekends – but I am always battling against the odds if I do not get Monday morning at my desk.
Monday 2nd March
In the office by 7:30 to continue yesterday’s work and to prepare for Ben, a work experience student down here for a week to see how things work – or don’t. After an afternoon in the Chamber I give dinner to my Assistant and her boyfriend. Alice has been with me since September. When I came here in 1970 her father became my first PA. Many readers will remember Mark Robinson – Member for Newport from ‘83 to ’87 and for Somerton and Frome from ’92 to ’97.
Tuesday 3rd March
In shortly after seven and then to the Natural History Museum with the All Party Arts and Heritage Group. A breakfast meeting with the Director and Chairman of the Trustees and then a special view of the remarkable Darwin Bicentenary Exhibition. What an extraordinary man he was – and how those vigorous ape and angel debates of 150 years ago come flooding back as we look at the exhibition. Sadly I have to leave early to go back for a meeting with the Chief Executive of the Royal Wolverhampton Hospital Trust. The three Wolverhampton MPs and I have regular meetings in my room to keep in touch with developments. The Trust has made remarkable progress over the last three years. They now have one of the very best records in the country for combating hospital acquired infections.
In the afternoon, after Questions, to a meeting of the Campaign for an Effective Second Chamber – a group that Philip Norton and I have been running for some seven years now. We are over 200 strong and represent both Houses and all parties, and the Cross Benchers. Our aim is to ensure that the Second Chamber remains appointed and not elected, a reservoir of talent and experience and with no party majority and a large independent element – something no elections could ever guarantee.
In the evening I have a dinner for my local NFU branch. Hilary Benn joins us for the best part of an hour before dinner and James Paice for the dinner itself. Both of them are very well received by with the South Staffordshire farmers.
Wednesday 4th March
Another early start and then to the British Museum, again with the All Party Group, this time to see Babylon. It is amazing to think that the glazed brick lions and dragon which dominate the first room guarded Nebuchadnezzar nearly seven centuries before Christ. And the last room reminds us of the damage inflicted on the site during the Iraq War. Back to the House for Northern Ireland Questions. Then after Prime Minister’s Questions I am in the Chamber until 7pm for the Northern Ireland Bill. Nobody speaks against it but there is tremendous opposition, from all those who take part, to the Government’s determination to railroad this through in one day. There is no emergency. The Lords have two days. How not to win friends and influence people! And what a pity when we are all in support of the Bill. In the evening to dinner with my PA from 1976 – now a senior partner with Allen and Overy in the city. We do not spend all our time talking of current events.
Thursday 5th March
Another early start and then a meeting of the Liaison Committee followed by a session with the Clerk of our Northern Ireland Affairs Committee. Then Gillian Merron and I have a meeting with the Chapter Clerk and Chief Executive, and the Works Director, of Lincoln Cathedral. Lincoln was my home diocese. I have known the Cathedral for more than sixty years. I share Ruskin’s view that it is the greatest of all our cathedrals and it is troubling to think that it is such a struggle to maintain the fabric. No buildings are of more enduring worth than our great cathedrals and the future of all could be secured for a tiny percentage of what we are devoting to bailing out the banks.
Friday 6th March
To the constituency for a meeting with the Chief Executive of my main Primary Care Trust. It is a sobering thought that the South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust has a budget equivalent to 25% of the budget for the National Health Service in the first general election that I contested 45 years ago. In the evening to Wombourne to talk about four decades in the House. A lively session but I find it difficult attending a wine and cheese event without being able to drink the wine. And Lent has 5 weeks still to go.
Saturday 7th March & Sunday 8th March
Grounded with a slight infection and so a weekend of deskwork and reading. Wake up on Sunday morning to the dreadful news that two soldiers have been shot in Northern Ireland. Though it is indeed dreadful news it is not a total surprise. Sir Hugh Orde, the Chief Constable, has been warning us of the dissident Republican threat for over a year now, and since January of 2008 there have been eighteen foiled attempts: foiled because of the intelligence and skill of the PSNI.
Monday 9th March
The antibiotics have done their stuff and I am back by midday in the office and then an afternoon in the Chamber. There is a sombre mood for Shaun Woodward’s statement but a remarkable show of unity and resolve. Ian Paisley pays a moving tribute to the Roman Catholic priest who denounced the murderers.
Tuesday 10th March
The 6am news brings word of another shooting. This time a policeman: a policeman moreover who was doing his duty, dashing, as he thought, to a woman in distress. Once again there is widespread denunciation of a despicable crime.
I have one of my regular breakfasts with Robert Wright, the Rector of St Margaret’s and Speaker’s Chaplain who is about to launch a major appeal for St Margaret’s. I well remember the last one, over twenty years ago, when we raised a million in nine months and the appeal included a regatta for Members organised by Colin (now Lord) Monaghan and a charity auction at Sotheby’s which I arranged.
At midday to the memorial service for the late Lord Rees of Goytre – who, as Peter Rees, entered the House when I did in 1970. Two moving tributes, one from Lord Ferres and the other from Peter’s stepdaughter. I later discuss the shootings with Sir Hugh Orde. He really has provided the most remarkable leadership to the PSNI and is rightly held in high regard throughout Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee has a visit planned for next week and we discuss it. In the evening, the rare treat of dining in the Members’ Dining Room with friends and colleagues. There was a time when the dining room was full to over flowing and you had to queue to get a table if you were not there before 8pm. Now it is often a fairly desolate place. Whatever maybe the benefits of the change of hours of the House (and I can think of precious few) one of the principal casualties has been the collegiate atmosphere, the camaraderie, that used to exist every night of the week.
Wednesday 11th March
An early start and then a meeting with the Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We discuss, among other things, a possible visit later in the year. I am Chairman of the Group here. Question Time is a much more sober affair than usual with the Prime Minister and David Cameron (welcomed back after his recent tragic bereavement) dwelling on events in Northern Ireland and the sacrifices made by our security forces. I give lunch to Malcolm Hay, the Curator of Works of Art, and we reminisce over the fourteen years that I was Chairman of that splendid body: one of my happiest associations in the House. Then a meeting of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee after which Members and Peers from all parties gather outside St Stephen’s in recognition of the thousands demonstrating in silence throughout Northern Ireland.
Like the Prime Minister ‘I have more meetings later in the day’ and in the evening to a dinner at the Civil Service Club, given by one of my constituents who has been an advisor to the Malaysian Government and where I have to make a speech.
Thursday 12th March
In early for a breakfast at the Athenaeum with an old friend. I am looking forward to this evening when I plan to be at the Guildhall with members of the Johnson Society, commemorating the 300th anniversary of Staffordshire’s greatest son, Samuel Johnson.
