PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
Leader of the Opposition and Avoidance of Debate (27 June 1990)

That this House notes with admiration that the Right honourable Member for Finchley is the most active Prime Minister since the office was instituted; applauds her stamina in the service of our country at home and abroad over the last 11 years; deplores the campaigns of personal abuse organised by Opposition Members against her and her family which she has borne with great fortitude; takes pride in the fact that no leader of any other Western democracy is as accountable, in making statements and answering questions, to Members of Parliament as the Prime Minister; notes that no Prime Minister has been more punctilious in fulfilling her parliamentary duties; recalls that her very high standards as a parliamentarian were first set in Opposition when for four years she initiated, and remained throughout, business questions on Thursdays, an obligation quickly discarded by the present Leader of the Opposition; further notes that the Right honourable Member for Islwyn has made no Commons speech since his disastrous effort in the Westland debate over four years ago; understands that he is now even kept away from major television interviews following his unfortunate outing on BBC Panorama while Mr Mandelson was absent in the United States of America; and reminds him that if he is serious in his parliamentary challenge to the Prime Minister he could at any time table, and speak to, a motion of no confidence, and when he recovered his own, invites him to do so.

Sponsored by:
Richard Alexander (Conservative)