UK Parliament / Open data

Business of the House

Proceeding contribution from John Bercow (Speaker) in the House of Commons on Wednesday, 3 April 2019. It occurred during Debate on Business of the House.

None of us�myself included�has Kantian perfect information on the subject, and I witnessed that there was some uncertainty. What I can vouchsafe to the hon. Gentleman, without causing any offence, is that in so far as there was some uncertainty about the

vote, it was about whether it was 310 each or whether, as in the view of one Government Whip�it was not advanced with great certainty�the Government might have secured 311 votes. I do not think that there is any suggestion that the decision has worked against the right hon. Member for Leeds Central (Hilary Benn). In the event that there was an error, I think that I will resort to the Willie Whitelaw defence at this stage: let us cross that bridge if we come to it. I am not anticipating that we will do so. I thought it prudent to ask the Government and Opposition Chief Whips to confirm, and they did so amicably, as far as I know, and appeared to reach an agreed conclusion. There is no need to create a row, on top of all other rows, where there is none.

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
657 c1119 
Session
2017-19
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
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