In all his experience, he had never known a greater responsibility to rest upon a Government; and he did not envy the Government their responsibility with respect to Ireland, because he did not think they had grappled with this subject, but had resorted to the old plan of balancing one Irish Member against another—a miserable subterfuge, unworthy of a Government, and of the Crisis of This Great Debate.

His hon. and learned Friend had spoken of the gravity and importance of the subject requiring it to be discussed in a Select Committee; but not an hour previously, at the very Crisis of the Debate on this Bill, it was only by the exertions of the hon. Member for Lewes (Mr. Brand), whose energy was worthy of all praise, that the exact number of Members requisite to constitute a House could be brought together, and two-thirds of those had not heard any part of the previous discussion.

Then he went to Ottawa, and suddenly it was not signed at all; then came the Crisis of the Debate on the Loan in Congress; then the Loan went through; and now there is silence.

This Debate Crisis

The biggest Crisis in This Debate is not our over-exploitation of NHS data but our shameful failure to allow transparent performance management in the NHS and care sectors earlier.