A PRESS conference at the House of Commons timed to coincide with the publication of Before the Dawn: An Autobiography, by the president of Sinn Fein, Mr Gerry Adams, has been banned by the Serjeant at Arms amid complaints from a number of MPs.
A room in the Commons had been booked for the event this Thursday by Mr Jeremy Corbyn, a Labour MP, under rules which allow former MPs to promote autobiographies if the room is booked by a current member. However, when it became clear that the book was to be launched by its publishers, Heinemann, in Dublin, and that the Commons event would effectively be a press conference, officials intervened.
The Labour chairman of the Commons Administration Select Committee, Mr Michael Martin MP, successfully challenged the decision to allow the press conference, citing it as a possible breach of parliamentary facilities. As a result, the Serjeant at Arms, Mr Peter Jennings, has now informed Mr Corbyn that the event would not be allowed under Commons rules.
Mr Martin said that he was "pleased" that the press conference would not go ahead and that Mr Adams had been prevented from entering the Commons. He said: "When Mr Adams was an MP he did not see fit to darken the door of the House. This was a cynical ploy to promote his book, from which he is obviously hoping to make money.
"It would have been wrong of me not to take steps to prevent it. My thoughts go to those who died at Docklands and the people of Manchester and all those who have been killed or maimed throughout this brutal campaign."