Further news from the A.N. Wilson column in The Daily Telegraph

Hi! YOUR’E on line. This is where you are going to have a taste of the action. You remember the early days? Do you remember when Our Leader, with his team, Hit the Ground Running? Do you remember just how amazed everyone was – like, how they said, they’ll never keep up this pace? The sheer range of this Government’s achievements has already proved them wrong.

The Settlement train in Ireland is steaming out of the station with all passengers on board and that is very much a victory chalked up for Our Leader. He made it quite clear. No ifs or buts. Either the IRA laid down its weapons before the talks began, or it agreed to decommission its weapons before the talks began, or it came to the talks without decommissioning its weapons, but gave a firm commitment to the Mitchell Principles.

You couldn’t get much clearer than that. Which is why the huge majority in Northern Ireland has been running to the station to watch that train puffing along the track. Don’t listen to the Media on this one. Okay, so a very small number of die-hards in the province have said that they don’t like the Settlement train. Ian Paisley’s supporters, for instance, have climbed off the train for a while; David Trimble’s friends have been pulling the communication cord and telling him to get off, too.

Our Leader does not believe that train is stoppable now, and he’ll tell you why in three words – words that have resonated not only in Northern Ireland, but also in Wales, and in the Palace of Westminster itself. The words? Committees, committees, and committees!

When Our Leader won a greater election victory than any previous world leader in the history of democracy, quite frankly, there were those who thought it would make him conceited. They supposed that the fact that he was the most popular leader since records began – several points ahead of Alfred the Greta and Elizabeth l, beating even Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher – all this, they thought, would go to his head. They thought he’d become arrogant, cocksure, pleased with himself.

That’s where the first syllable of that word committee helped him. Co – as in co-operation ( The "Co-Op"!!). Doing things together, that’s what it means. It lies at the very heart of Our Leader’s vision for society.

And that’s why he has started a committee in Westminster, just for the Liberal Democrats. Once a month, Our Leader will meet the Liberal Democrats and thrash out all the things that are important to them, like why they did not have a committee to sit on. You all know of Our Leader’s best friendship with Roy Jenkins. Roy helped Our Leader to make the New Party into what it is today – something a bit like the Liberal Party. Only with one important difference. Roy! Ours is a successful Liberal Part. Roy let it be known that he would not object to being given a seat in the Cabinet, as a reward for his services, but Our Leader has decided to broaden things out – and to offer Paddy, and Alan and the others. A monthly opportunity to air their views with very senior figures, such as Our Leader, and Peter.

The Welsh, for years, has been a bit like the Liberal Democrats – a group of people without a voice. Co – together- remember? Isn’t it a word that makes you think of meetings? So, we’re giving the Welsh their first opportunity since the Middle Ages to meet together. There’ll be 60 of them in their new committee and though they won’t have tax-raising powers, they will have about £7 billion per annum to "play with". Forty of this committee will be elected by a first-past-the post system; the other 20 will be elected by proportional representation.

You see, with a committee, there’s something for everyone. And, you will be asking, what are all those committees going to do? What are the talks ( or "substantive" talks) going to do for Northern Ireland? What can the Westminster committee of Liberal Democrats actually achieve? What exactly will the Welsh committee do?

Our Leader got very tired, quite honestly, of people telling him that his ideas were not going to achieve anything, during his struggle to take over the leadership, first of the Party, then of the Country, later of the World. To very, very few in history is it given to act, frankly. In any generation, there are only a handful of individuals – a Martin Luther King, a Gianni Versace – capable of catching the public imagination in quite the way that Our Leader has done. That’s where tee of committee comes in. Tea and biscuits, Tea and sympathy. These things are very important; any leader knows that, whether it’s on a school board, a hospital trust, or the board of a big company.

It is not given to the small fry to act. Our Leader, Peter, and one or two others could run this country single-handed – and they have been doing so since Day One. But they want to make You, the smaller People, feel involved! Together – Co – you will meet – mit – for tea – tee. Committee, committee, committee. And Our Leader urges you, very seriously indeed, whether you are Irish, Welsh or just a Liberal Democrat – get on board that Committee, or it will go without you.