European Union Bill

Not at this point, in the middle of a sentence, although I have often given way to my noble friend in circumstances like this. The news that we were joining the system reached me in rather a remarkable way. In my role as Leader of the Commons, on that day it was my job to go to Balmoral with a number of ministerial colleagues for a formal meeting for which I was Lord President of the Council. When I arrived in the presence of Her Majesty, before having a chance to talk to anybody else, her first question to me was, ““What do you think of the news today, Sir Geoffrey?”” I said, ““What news, your Majesty?”” She said, ““Haven’t you heard?”” I had not, indeed, but we had joined the European monetary system on that day. Although my private office in London had tried to get the message to me before I met Her Majesty, that had failed. So I found the whole thing embarrassing—but I was in a way a pioneer, because I first commended it to the other place as long ago as when I was Shadow Chancellor, on 29 November 1978. So I am quite impatient to see it fulfilled, as long as it is fulfilled, on the right terms at the right time, but fortunately that is not for me to decide. I see my noble friend is looking anxious. I have said all I need to say—