My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Rodgers, has got into the habit of using these debates to provoke thought and debate on issues of importance. By so doing, there is the added benefit that he coaxes the noble Lord, Lord Norton of Louth, away from academia to put on record...

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Rodgers, has got into the habit of using these debates to provoke thought and debate on issues of importance. By so doing, there is the added benefit that he coaxes the noble Lord, Lord Norton of Louth, away from academia to put on record...

My Lords, can I just deal with that point, please? I am most grateful to my noble friend for intervening. I ought to have paid full credit to my noble friend for what he did. I think the changes were completed in 1981 or thereabouts. I suppose that it was...

My Lords, can I just deal with that point, please? I am most grateful to my noble friend for intervening. I ought to have paid full credit to my noble friend for what he did. I think the changes were completed in 1981 or thereabouts. I suppose that it was...

My Lords, I am particularly grateful to the Lord President for replying to this modest debate when she has so many heavy responsibilities. Let me explain the occasion that prompted me to initiate this debate. It was the news last summer that Ministers would table a number of late amendments...

My Lords, I am particularly grateful to the Lord President for replying to this modest debate when she has so many heavy responsibilities. Let me explain the occasion that prompted me to initiate this debate. It was the news last summer that Ministers would table a number of late amendments...

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank, on raising this question. This is a timely opportunity to look at what privy counsellors do and, perhaps of greater importance, what they could do. In some respects, privy counsellors are similar to the Members of the House...

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank, on raising this question. This is a timely opportunity to look at what privy counsellors do and, perhaps of greater importance, what they could do. In some respects, privy counsellors are similar to the Members of the House...

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the role of Privy Counsellors.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the role of Privy Counsellors.

My Lords, would my noble friend allow me to interrupt him very briefly to ask him if he realises that the points he has made about chairmanship of Select Committees, membership of the Privy Council and providing an alternative career structure were exactly those I made when I persuaded the...

My Lords, would my noble friend allow me to interrupt him very briefly to ask him if he realises that the points he has made about chairmanship of Select Committees, membership of the Privy Council and providing an alternative career structure were exactly those I made when I persuaded the...

My Lords, it may be that the debate is being dealt with in a specific way in which case I apologise for talking so long; but it does rather go to the core of our constitution. My understanding is that if a dinner debate overran then the Bill would start...

My Lords, it may be that the debate is being dealt with in a specific way in which case I apologise for talking so long; but it does rather go to the core of our constitution. My understanding is that if a dinner debate overran then the Bill would start...

My Lords, I, too, add my congratulations to the noble Lord, Lord Rodgers, on introducing this topic today. He seemed to focus, to a considerable degree, on the distinction—it is an important distinction—between the functional role of privy counsellors and the honorific role. The list of privy counsellors, which now...

My Lords, I, too, add my congratulations to the noble Lord, Lord Rodgers, on introducing this topic today. He seemed to focus, to a considerable degree, on the distinction—it is an important distinction—between the functional role of privy counsellors and the honorific role. The list of privy counsellors, which now...

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Rodgers, on raising this matter. I have not been a privy counsellor for quite as long as him. I have been a privy counsellor for almost precisely 30 years and, like him, I have attended a good many meetings of small groups...

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Rodgers, on raising this matter. I have not been a privy counsellor for quite as long as him. I have been a privy counsellor for almost precisely 30 years and, like him, I have attended a good many meetings of small groups...

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank, on securing this debate. Like the noble Lord, Lord Jopling, and other noble Lords, I take huge pride in the fact that I am a privy counsellor, and indeed that I am Lord President of the Council. The...

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank, on securing this debate. Like the noble Lord, Lord Jopling, and other noble Lords, I take huge pride in the fact that I am a privy counsellor, and indeed that I am Lord President of the Council. The...

My Lords, I would not want to excite the noble Lord even further. In those circumstances, I shall retire.

My Lords, I would not want to excite the noble Lord even further. In those circumstances, I shall retire.

My Lords, I am quite sure, especially as I speak regularly in the debates on the marine Bill, that those of us involved will be only too delighted to allow this debate to run a little longer in order that the noble Baroness the Lord President of the Council can...

My Lords, I am quite sure, especially as I speak regularly in the debates on the marine Bill, that those of us involved will be only too delighted to allow this debate to run a little longer in order that the noble Baroness the Lord President of the Council can...

Lords question for short debate on what is the role of Privy Counsellors.

Lords question for short debate on what is the role of Privy Counsellors.