Friday 15 May 2009

Order! Order!

The Official Report [Hansard] House of Commons publication "Centenary volume 1909-2009:
An anthology of historic and memorable House of Commons speeches to celebrate the first 100 years"
makes an interesting read.
The Rt. Hon. Michael J. Martin (Speaker) says in his foreword that he thinks that it was Tony Benn who described Hansard as the “only uncensored newspaper in Britain”. It starts with a concise history of how Hansard came about and then goes on to famous speeches that have been chosen by various people.
There are a few gems from unfortunate mps that have managed to say the wrong thing, for example:-
“It took the trees some time to recover as they had been chopped down.”
“The number of firearms offences has shot through the roof.”
“I have the misfortune to represent more irradiated sheep than any other hon. Member.” (Chernobyl Nuclear disaster).

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