Parliament

Let's Go To Parliament!

By Carrie Mae Hanrahan

Westminster Palace, known as Parliament, with Big Ben housed in the Elizabeth Tower.

In the days of old, the monarch had difficulties communicating with the entire country. To make things easier for himself, Lords and Barons were given lands that they were in charge of, to report back to the King when trouble arose or information was available that he would like to hear. On few occasions each year, the Lords and Barons would meet at the Palace of Westminster to simultaneously discuss the state of the country and give their advice to the King. Coming from the French verb "parler" which means "to talk" or "to discuss", Parliament was the name for the meetings the Lords would have with the King. In the early days of Parliament, status was determined by amount of land owned. Soon after Parliament started meeting, men who were not Lords but owned decent amounts of land wanted to meet with Parliament as well. Since these men did not have noble status, they were "commoners". This started the division of houses between the "House of Lords" and "House of Commons".

Parliament was originally a cabinet of advisers for the monarch. The King called when Parliament would be in session, and held most of the power. A lot of the power was slowly shifting until Parliament was just slightly less powerful than the King. This changed when Charles I was in power. After his execution, the power flipped and Parliament was slightly more powerful. They appointed his son Charles II to the throne around 1660. Ever since, Parliament has slowly grown more powerful. The position of monarch has become a position of ceremonial and sentimental value, with little or no control over the workings of Parliament.

The Palace of Westminster is mostly not the original building. In the fire of 1834, most of the Palace burned to the ground. Only the Great Hall and a small chunk of an adjacent hallway survived. Bundles of sticks in the cellar had caught fire, and the building went up in flames. The Palace was rebuilt in a Neo-Gothic style. During the bombings of London in World War II, the House of Commons was demolished. The House of Commons was rebuilt by 1950. Currently, there are renovations being done on the original tiles in the small original hall adjacent to the Great Hall.

House of Lords

House of Lords

Like the Monarchy of England, entrance to the House of Lords was originally by heritage. When the Lord of North passed away, the person who succeeded him as Lord of his territory also succeeded him for his seat in Parliament. When there needed to be more members of the House of Lords, the King would divide the land into smaller chunks and appoint new families as Lords of the new territories. From that point on, that family also had rights of heritage for their seat in Parliament.

Reform was eventually made to the House of Lords. Rather than all seats being hereditary, only 92 members (as of July 1, 2011) remained in their birthright positions. The rest of the members stepped down from their Parliamentary duties. In their place, new members were appointed into the House of Lords. These new members were also known as life members, people who acted in Parliament until their death, but would not be succeeded by a member of their family. For the 92 hereditary peers, they can not be succeeded by their family members. If a member passes away, a replacement is voted in by the hereditary peers from the same political party as the deceased member, from the pooled group of hereditary peers that were removed from their seats after the 1999 reform. The hereditary peer voted to replace the deceased member is also from the same political party. This system will continue until all the hereditary peers from that time have passed away. All the members of the House of Lords serve until death, elections are never held.

The speaker of the House of Lords is elected every five years. A speaker serves a five year term and may only hold a maximum of two terms. Originally the position was held by the Lord Chancellor, but this was reformed in 2005, the current speaker of the House is Baroness D'Souza.

House of Commons

House of Commons

All members of the house of commons are elected every five years. When the five year time period comes up, all the seats are open for election. In a majority system, usually the party that holds the largest number of seats or the coalition with the most seats determines which party the Prime Minister will be selected from. In a coalition between Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, if the Conservatives hold one more seat in the coalition, the Prime Minister will usually be from the Conservative party. This system is because the monarch selects a candidate that will command the confidence of the House of Commons, therefore it makes sense the Prime Minister comes from the majority. Prime Ministers only get selected from the House of Commons.

While the House of Lords has unlimited seating the House of Commons is limited to 650 members. None of the members have life member benefits. The speaker of the House is elected after the general election of the new House of Commons members. There is a different speaker for the House of Commons than the House of Lords. The current speaker is John Bercow, the first Jewish speaker elected in the House.

Tradition

The messenger at the House of Commons door,
with the dent shown below the grate.

During the reign of Charles I, he refused to call Parliament for 11 years. This action eventually lead to his beheading. Prior to his death, he marched into the House of Commons demanding for five traitors to be brought forward. The men had slipped out the back door when they heard of his arrival. The speaker of the house told Charles I he was not allowed in the House of Commons. To this day, since the incident, a peculiar ritual has been formed. When the Queen addresses Parliament, she is only allowed in the House of Lords. A man is sent with a hammer to the House of Commons when she is ready to address the whole of Parliament. The man runs down the hall connecting the Houses, so the members of the Commons see him running. Upon reaching the door to the House of Commons, the members slam the door in his face, signalling that they will only come when they are ready for their audience. The messenger bangs on the wood door with the hammer until the House of Commons opens up and walks down the hall for their audience with the Queen and the House of Lords.

Baroness Scott of Needham Market

Baroness Scott

One of the experiences we had during our Parliament visit was an audience with Baroness Scott of Needham Market. The Baroness is a member of the House of Lords, meaning she will be in the House until she passes away. She spoke to us about the history of Parliament as well as the inner workings of Political Ping-Pong. The basic idea is that a reform stopped the House of Lords from vetoing any Laws, Bills, or Acts passed from the House of Commons. The Lords can only delay the legislation for a year before it will be passed unto the Queen to be signed and put into action anyway. Since the best the Lords can do is make amendments, this can create Political Ping-Pong between the Houses. The legislation is bounced from one court to the other until compromise is reached, one House caves into the other's demands, or the one year period runs out.

The Baroness discussed some of her personal views on the system. She also informed us that this coming Monday, June 3rd, marriage equality legislation will be brought in front of the House of Lords. The documents have already passed through the House of Commons with a large majority in favour. The Baroness admitted that she foresees the legislation being voted for on Monday, rather than just reviewed. She also stated that if it is not voted on Monday, she does not think there will be much contention or Political Ping-Pong surrounding the legislation. Baroness Scott was kind enough to navigate us through the extravagant halls, as well as accompany us on most of our tour through Parliament.