like to have seen that done. I was not here for much of that period, so I cannot say, at first hand, that it could have been done, but I cannot help regretting it was not. I agree with the right hon. and learned Member for West Derby that the only way to deal with a constitutional issue of this magnitude -- the reform of the Second Chamber -- is by agreement. My right hon. and learned Friend proposed an all-party committee. I go further. I ask the Government to consider the possibility, even now, of moving for the appointment of a Royal Commission. I believe that course, if I may say so with great respect, will help the Prime Minister out of what must 292 be for him a very difficult situation. He must, if he is an honest man, and I do not for one moment believe that he is not, know that to say that the Government has a mandate to reform the House of Lords is sheer rubbish. I am not sure if he was present when the Senior Burgess for Cambridge University (Mr. Pickthorn), about this time last night in this Chamber, completely demolished any suggestion that there could be a mandate for the reform of the Second Chamber -- a mandate, said the Lord President, to take steps to prevent obstruction. How? Because they gave due notice, he said, in "Let us Face the Future," that they would not tolerate any obstruction of the