Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

I have no intention of spinning and I have not said a word so far. I know that the noble Lord is concerned about the interpretation that will be made of his words. He will want to look at them extremely carefully. He quoted the Fenians and he said he was drawing lessons from history—although he got the centuries wrong first time, but we forgive him for that—but the only interpretation I can make is that he was warning us about what has happened in the Commons. I cannot for the life of me, being as generous as I can, think of any other interpretation. Perhaps the noble Lord will look at those words carefully so that at the end of the debate we can have a firm affirmation from the Government that, whatever the gaffe may have been, it was not intended as a threat.