Leader Of The Opposition And Avoidance Of Debate

EDM number 1210 in 1989-90, proposed by Richard Alexander on 28/06/1990.

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.

This motion has been signed by a total of 21 MPs.