This weekend’s quiz questions:
1. The chamber of the House of Commons was destroyed by enemy bombing on 10 May 1941. Until the chamber was rebuilt, the Commons sat in the chamber of the House of Lords. Where did the House of Lords sit?
2. Who was the last Leader of the House of Lords to have served as an MP?
3. Which of the present members of the House of Lords have served as Head of the Diplomatic Service?
1) Queen’s Robing
Room (I wonder what happens when we have a succession and need both a King’s and Queen’s Robing room again?)
2) Lord Richard. (97-98) MP for Barons Court ’64-70. (The Marquess of Salisbury, as Viscount Cranborne, who immediately preceded Lord Richard as Leader of the Lords was an MP more recently – South Dorset ’79-87.)
3 Lords Wright of Richmond, Kerr of Kinlochard & Jay of Ewelme
Question 1: The Royal Gallery
Question 2: Lord Richard
Question 3: Lord Wright of Richmond, Lord Kerr of Kinlochard and Lord Jay of Ewelme
Actually can I change my answer? I’m pretty sure the house met in the Robing Room not the Royal Gallery.
The House sat in the King’s Robing room, which was big enough for the average daily attendance of about fifty at that time.
Baron Richard served for the first year or so of the Blair government, having been the MP for Baron’s Court, London, from 1964 to 1974.
And not since the death of the Fifth Earl Cairns in 1989 has a former Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps sat in the upper house.
These quizes are all far too clever for the likes of me. And look, you don’t even get the chance of a Politics Show mug!
Congratulations to Croft who replied first and with the correct answers. I suppose one could quibble about whether one should refer to it as the Queen’s Robing Room or (as it was) the King’s Robing Room. Rob gets a commendation for also coming up with the correct answers.
Mark: The Permanent Secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is Head of the Diplomatic Service. As Croft rightly says, there are three current members of the House who have served in that position. All three, incidentally, have served as members of Sub-Committee E of the European Union Committee.
stephenpaterson: I may introduce a House of Lords mug, or something easier to slip in to the post, as a prize in the future, so there may be a case to start mugging up (forgive the pun) on the Lords.