Parliamentary Standards Bill

At your instruction, Sir Alan, I will withdraw "malice" but I shall leave "uncharitableness". I believe that we are where we are today because of the Prime Minister's determination to foist on us an instrument that is destructive of this Parliament and its Members' rights, including yours, Sir Alan. I shall rest my case there, because I do not wish to make a long speech. I say what I say with a considerable degree of reluctance, but my right hon. Friend the Member for Wells is right to insist that the reference to the royal appointment should be deleted, because for "royal" one has to read "prime ministerial", and that takes away the power of Parliament to regulate its own affairs and makes us dance to the tune of the chief executive—something that no free Parliament should ever do.