I had a dream that I was trying to make some point or ask a question that I had prepared for a long time. The campaign was over and I was looking forward to a good response, but as often happens things got delayed. I was running out of time.

Then, to my intense irritation, the Commons chamber started dissolving slowly and enlarging into a ruinous garden. I seemed to be further and further away from the Speaker and now a bush had grown up between him and me. Where the benches were ruinous pieces of ancient stone, cracked and weathered. Where the carpets had been was grass. It started to look like the remains of the Forum in Rome. But the whole impression was rather attractive and peaceful.

I rushed around by a door, being a dream there was a wooden door just as it had always been. I now stood up to catch the Speaker’s eye. He could see me now. My moment had come. Then the clock struck and we had to move on to other business.

So, Tatiana, I call you that because that was the first name like Gabriel we really gave to one of our children but never quite did. So I can refer to you without embarrassment. Don’t get too worked up by your big moment. It may never come, but beauty can come out of ruin.