Lord Heseltine: If 'pairing system collapses'...there will be chaos
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Lord Heseltine: Pairing row made me swing mace

Conservative grandee Lord Heseltine, says a famous 1976 incident, in which he swung a mace in the House of Commons, was related to a pairing issue.

The then Labour government carried a motion by just one vote, when one of its MPs failed to abstain, in contravention of a pairing arrangement.

Lord Heseltine tells Radio 4's World at One that the pairing system "relies on trust, my word is my bond...and if you can't believe that, then the pairing system collapses and the business of parliament becomes chaotic".

  • 20 Jul 2018