Worcester College, Oxford
I have spent the weekend at the annual meeting of the Study of Parliament Group. It is my thirty-second year of consecutive attendance. The Group brings together academics with an interest in Parliament (or parliaments) and officials (clerks, librarians etc) of both Houses of Parliament, as well as some officials from devolved and other assemblies. This year’s meeting was at Worcester College, Oxford. It is always an excellent occasion to discuss matters of common interest and to learn from one another.
This year we discussed topics such as parliamentary reform, public attitudes towards Parliament, parliamentary outreach, and lobbying. The session on outreach included a link to the web to show not only the Parliament website but also Lords of the Blog. It was clear from comments afterwards that some of the audience are regular readers.
I will do a separate post shortly on the subject of parliamentary lobbying. However, there was one other part of the meeting that I wanted to draw to your attention. We have an after-dinner speaker on the Saturday and this year it was Chris Mullin, Labour MP for Sunderland South, who has served in ministerial office as well as Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee. He is standing down at the next election. He reflected on his twenty-two years in Parliament, providing an analysis that was not only clear but also extremely entertaining. He has had some fascinating, as well as very funny, experiences. I won’t repeat them here, partly because the meetings are private but also because the stories are sure to appear in his forthcoming diaries. I know he will be very happy for me to mention that the diaries are being published, under the title A View from the Foothills, in March by Profile Books. They should make excellent reading.
GET THE FABIANS OUT OF WESTMINSTER!!
Chris Mullin may have been accused of several things, but as far as I am aware being a Fabian is not one of them!
The Study of Parliament Group was created in 1964. There is however another body based in Geneva, the Union Interparlementaire or Inter-Parliament Union [IPU] that was established in 1889.
centurean2: Shouting on the blog is impolite. Was your caps lock stuck down with bile? The Fabian Society is just a few years younger than the IPU being established in 1884 and is now 125 years old.
What is very noticeable is the absence of any comment from them on the principle of reverse wealth distribution being adopted by governments around the world. The poor redistribute their taxes to the wealthy and governments redistributing debt to their taxpayers.
In this respect they no longer have a presence or influence in Parliament. So there was really no need to shout.
Ref:
http://www.ipu.org
http://www.spg.org.uk/
http://fabians.org.uk/
Lord Briggs, former Provost of Worcester College, co-authored A Social History of the Media: From Gutenberg to the Internet, Second Edition, 2006.
Review: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=203266§ioncode=6
Was he there, by any chance?
I haven’t read it, but intend to get a copy. I’m sure he’ll be pleased to get a mention, too. Should we start a Book Club recommendation list, since Richard & Judy have dropped off the radar?
Senex and Ladytizzy: From the perspective of the Study of Parliament Group, I think we would find your comments rather flattering. The two international bodies that exist to facilitate contact and co-operation between national parliaments are the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA). These are major bodies, with full-time staff, facilitating meetings between delegations from different parliaments and sponsoring a range of conferences, publications and research. The IPU is a co-sponsor of the Workshop of Parliamentary Scholars and Parliaments, which I organise and which every other year brings together academics and members of parliaments from twenty or more countries. (I did some posts on here following last year’s Workshop.) It is through the good offices of the IPU that we attract the parliamentarians.
The Study of Parliament Group is a UK body comprising 100-150 members, which facilitates contact between members and, through study groups, generates articles and some books on the UK Parliament. It has no staff, no institutional base and (very) limited resources. (It was founded by, among others, Sir Bernard Crick, who died recently.) It is, as I mentioned, confined to academics with an interest in Parliament as well as officials. Lord Briggs is not someone who has been in the field of legislative studies’ he finished his stint as Provost of Worcester College back in 1991, long before the SPG held its meetings at the College. Until about four years ago, we met at Exeter College, Oxford.
Ladytizzy: A book club sounds a good idea, though you may find we keep recommending publications by members of the Study of Parliament Group and, indeed, publications facilitated by the Group.
It would be helpful to have some extracts from Chris Mullin’s speech, if allowed. A reflection of 22 years, especially when he is not seeking re-election, would be valuable, I wonder if he feels, like me, that we are no longer governed but ruled.
I see the House of Lords as a very important back stop against those who seem just to want to rule us as if we were just an ignorant electorate who should be grateful that some political elite bothers to look after us.