The Speaker must appeal to people across the country and act as a healer, Sir Patrick Cormack explains.
How do you think the row over expenses and internal debate over parliamentary reform has changed the role of Speaker, and the public perceptions of the role?
I don't think many people out there have a really full idea of just what the Speaker has to do, and what he or she can't do. The public perception of the Speaker is really based on, I think, two people in particular who were household names and tremendously popular in the country. One was the late George Thomas, and the other was Betty Boothroyd, who still thank God is very much with us. They helped to define the role in the public mind as being somebody who is above reproach, who keeps order with a firm but gentle touch. I think that that is terribly important.
At the moment, we've had a sad period in Parliament and we need somebody who can appeal to people in all parts and who is a bit of a healer. Most of the work here, of which I am most proud, is in an across party/all-party context. My championing of heritage and humanitarian causes has always been on the basis of all-party support and co-operation. I love this place, and I love the chamber and would like to see the chamber back at the centre of our national life in a way that it hasn't been recently. Now, the Speaker can't of course draw up rules. A Speaker is there to enforce the rules that are drawn-up.
The Speaker is there to referee and to adjudicate. The Speaker can take an initiative and I think there is a unique opportunity for a Speaker now. One of the very first things that I would seek to do would be to have a speaker's conference to look at the whole way in which we legislate and to look at redressing the balance between the executive and the legislature. That's a point that I make in my letter to colleagues.
Should the Speaker have a role beyond the chamber?
I wouldn't say preside over conduct away from the chamber. That would be an impossible task. I think the Speaker has to set a good example. He must be available to all members, regardless of party at all times. He has a pastoral role within the Palace of Westminster. The late Speaker Weatherill was particularly good at that. It's very important that the Speaker should be available to colleagues who have a problem or a worry, be it personal or any other sort of way, to listen, to talk and not to be so serious or pedantic. It’s very, very important indeed. And the Speaker, of course, does have a role in the wider community. I talk in my letter and I think other colleagues feel the same, that there is real ambassadorial role for the Speaker. The Lord Speaker has been doing this exceptionally skilfully for the House of Lords.
But if I were Speaker, I would want not to do what I’ve always done in my constituency, which is to go into schools and all manner of organisations and talk to people and meet them and speak about this place. I would want to be able to except invitations which I hope would be forthcoming from colleagues of all parties throughout the whole length and breadth of the United Kingdom to talk about Parliament as an institution. Because, at the moment, people are a little bit cynical about Parliament and about politicians and one understands that. But it's very, very important that we do not allow people's faith in the integrity of Parliament as an institution to be destroyed merely because of a few rather unfortunate stories in recent weeks.
What about an increased media role?
The Speaker must be very careful on that, to talk about Parliament - yes, to talk about how the House of Commons functions - yes, to become involved in political controversy – no. The absolute defining characteristic of the Speaker is utter and complete impartiality. If I became the Speaker and three weeks after were referring to me as the Conservative Speaker, I would consider I have failed.
The Speaker tears up the party card and is absolutely servant of the whole House and must have no regard for any faction. Whatever the Speaker's personal views may have been on any issue in the past, those views must be forgotten and in debate those people who strongly oppose those views must be called as regularly as those who support them. You put that baggage away and the only thing that you speak out for is for the institution of Parliament and parliamentary democracy. The question of going onto the radio or television to talk about that or to talk about the history of Parliament - about which I have written a book and which I’m pretty well versed in – yes, of course, as often as they want. But never, never, never to be drawn on issues which are the prerogative of parliamentarians to decide by debate and by argument.
How can the primacy of Parliament over the executive best be restored?
There are various things that we've got to look at. First of all, I think such a conference would have to look at the hours in which the House sits, not that I’m advocating going back all-night or anything like that. I’m certainly not. I’m wondering if there's a case for looking at a new system whereby the House is not always sitting at the same time as select committees. I know myself as chairman of a select committee on a Wednesday afternoon, I often want to be in the chamber but I can't be. I think we should perhaps look at setting aside certain times which are for plenary sessions and others where the committees meet and there is not this clash.
I think we have to look at the amount of legislation that comes through because it is quite wrong that legislation passes through the House of Commons without being adequately scrutinised and debated. It is a fact, it's not a conjecture that much legislation in recent years has not been adequately scrutinised, examined and debated in the House of Commons. I think that a speaker's conference needs to look at how time is allocated, how much legislation we can cope with. If you're seeking to hold the government to account, you've got to be able to do that. It doesn't matter whether it's a Labour government or a Conservative government or a Liberal Democrat government or a coalition government, it needs holding to account. It needs holding to account by those who are sent here by their constituents to do precisely that.
Your thoughts on a business committee?
I think that's a very good idea, and I think it's one of the things that a speaker's conference would want to look at. Just as I think the House of Commons should have ownership of its own committees more. I speak as a beneficiary of the present system, as the chairman of a select committee, that I would like select committee chairmen properly elected. And I think that all of these things would help to give ownership back to Parliament of things which it should own.
And on lessening of the whips' role?
There is a role in Parliament, of course, for whips. There's a role for party. There's a need for discipline. All parties have that and it's not the job of the Speaker to interfere in the way in which parties organise their own internal discipline. What is the job of the Speaker is to try and ensure that a fair hearing is obtained for all sides of the argument and that there is adequate time for the argument in question.
Why are you best placed to lead this change?
Well, it's up to my colleagues when they have read what I’ve written. When they've had that chance to talk to me and ask questions and come to hustings, it's up to colleagues to make up their own mind. There are other candidates and there are some excellent candidates, but, at the end of the day, the House has to make its choice and I believe that I can bring a robust impartiality to this. I believe that I have been here for a very long time, when the Conservatives were both in government and in Opposition. I was briefly on the Opposition frontbench and I was briefly a PPS in my first Parliament. But I have never been anything other than a parliamentarian, a backbencher, that is what I have enjoyed doing. I have never been one for towing party lines unduly. I had a record of thirteen against when the Conservative government was in office, if I didn't agree with them.
I’ve always tried to stick to the conscience country constituency order before party. I haven't always succeeded, of course I haven't. And there are many mistakes one makes. As I said to someone earlier today, this is not an assembly of saints; this is an assembly of sinners as every church congregation is every Sunday. We're all imperfect human beings. Of course I’ve made mistakes, dozens of them. But I do believe that I bring the ability to be impartial, a deep love of the place, a knowledge of Parliament and its institutions. I also bring a very real desire to see the redressing of the balance between the executive and legislature, and to see a Parliament that is more lively, a chamber that is fuller, a place which people begin to look to again. Rather than looking to lobbies and single interest groups, this is the place where it should all ultimately be decided.
What are you views on the more arcane rituals?
I can't say that it would be at the top of my list of priorities. I would want to talk to colleagues about this sort of thing. It underlines the fact that each member is not here for himself or herself alone, but it is here as the representative of a part of the country. When the Speaker sits in the chair, he is not first and foremost Mr Speaker Bloggs or Mr Speaker Smith or Madam Speaker something else. The Speaker is, above all, the servant of the House. His or her own personality is of less importance than the role of Speaker - Mr Speaker or Madam Speaker.
Which Speaker do you most admire?
I have sat here under Mr Speaker King, Mr Speaker Selwyn Lloyd, Mr Speaker Thomas, Mr Speaker Weatherall, Madam Speaker Boothroyd and Mr Speaker Martin. I have known them all and as people. I have liked them all as individuals very much - all of them. The two that stand out particularly for me are Mr Speaker Thomas and Madam Speaker Boothroyd and in saying that, I’m in no sense being critical of Mr Speaker Weatherall. He was a lovely, lovely man, a really good Christian man. But they are probably the two outstanding ones.
I was privileged to give the address of George Thomas's memorial service in Westminster Abbey. I knew him very, very well indeed. He was a very close family friend. Madam Speaker Boothroyd has become a very close and good and dear friend. Jack Weatherall was a very good friend. There are three people there who I greatly respected and admired.
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