perhaps he should go down to ronnie scotts to cheer himself up. [laughter] >> can i congratulate the prime minister for instead of listening to his new partner listening to his mother. because in the election he told us that his mother was a magistrate. and that she told him magistrates need the powers of short sentences. quite often it is the right thing for somebody not to listen to their new partner but to listen to their mother. so i'm glad he's done this on that occasion. [laughter] >> can i turn to something else mentioned in the election campaign. in the election campaign he said, any minister who came to him with cuts to front line services -- he said, and i quote will be sent straight back to their department to go away and think again. does that apply to the home secretary? >> well, first of all, can i say in my experience there's very few people more cheerful than the lord chancellor. he's celebrating his 40th anniversary in this house. he likes to -- he likes to point out he was elected before the counselor of exchequer was actually bo

perhaps he should go down to ronnie scott's to cheer himself up.laughter] may i congratulate the prime minister on, instead of listening to his new partner, listening to his mother? in the election he told us that his mother was a magistrate and that she told him that magistrates needed the power of short sentences. quite often, it is the right thing for somebody not to listen to their new partner but to listen to their mother, so i am glad that he has done that on this occasion. [laughter] i turn to something else mentioned in the election campaign. in the election campaign,the prime minister said that any minister who comes to him with cuts to front-line services, and i quote, "will be sent straight back to their department to go away and think again." does that apply to the home secretary? >> first, may i say that in my experience there are very few people more cheerful than the lord chancellor. >> hear hear. >> he is celebrating his 40th anniversary in this house, and he likes to point out that he was elected before the chancellor of the excheq

perhaps he should go down to ronnie scotts to cheer himself up.aughter] >> can i congratulate the prime minister for instead of listening to his new partner listening to his mother. because in the election he told us that his mother was a magistrate. and that she told him magistrates need the powers of short sentences. quite often it is the right thing for somebody not to listen to their new partner but to listen to their mother. so i'm glad he's done this on that occasion. [laughter] >> can i turn to something else mentioned in the election campaign. in the election campaign he said, any minister who came to him with cuts to front line services -- he said, and i quote will be sent straight back to their department to go away and think again. does that apply to the home secretary? >> well, first of all, can i say in my experience there's very few people more cheerful than the lord chancellor. he's celebrating his 40th anniversary in this house. he likes to -- he likes to point out he was elected before the counselor of exchequer was actually born.