House of Commons

Rory’s speech on the Big Society

Transcript I honour the hon. Member for Dagenham and Rainham (Jon Cruddas) for giving a good defence of many of the good elements of the big society, and a good warning on some of its dangers. Much of the debate, however, reminds me of sitting in a room with a group of philosophers looking at […]

Rory debates the Localism bill

Transcript This debate is an example of why changes such as those in the Bill are so difficult. All the arguments that Labour Members are making-all the “Yes, buts” we have just heard-show that we live in a strange world. Many Labour Members have said how much they support initiatives such as those in the […]

Rory’s speech on the UK armed forces in Afghanistan

Transcript I find this a very powerful, very troubling and very worrying motion. It states: “That this House supports the continued deployment of UK armed forces in Afghanistan.” If one were to remove the word “continued”, there is nobody in this House who would oppose the motion. Every Member, day by day, feels more admiration […]

Roryandlamb

maiden speech in the chamber

    A man may not make a maiden speech twice. Due to a misunderstanding in Westminster Hall, I appear to have lost my maidenhood, so I apologise to the House. I would like to speak about amendment 71, but very briefly, with your permission, Mr Caton, I would like first to pay tribute to my predecessor, David […]

question-time-panelqt

maiden speech

The following speech was made during a Westminster Hall debate on the Cumbrian Shootings, 23rd June 2010. I was not intending to make a maiden speech today, but I can think of no better example of what Parliament is about than the issue that Mr Reed has brought us. There is a precision, a compassion […]

newbies

newbies in parliament

Available on BBC iPlayer is a Radio 4 programme on the experience of five of us ‘newbies’ in Parliament – based on an audio diary which we recorded in the first two weeks after the election. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sjqq8