A reminder that anyone who wins the prize on three occasions will be invited to tea at the Lords.
This week’s quiz questions:
1. Identify two current peers who fit the following description:
I am a peer who has previously served as an MP
I switched parties while in the Commons
I served as a vice-chair of my previous party
2. Name the current members of the House of Lords who have previously served as Deputy Speakers in the House of Commons.
Despite your kind offer, this is far too taxing for a weekend.. But look at this..
http://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2009/07/18/does-this-make-mandy-into-a-leadership-candidate/
This seems pretty fanciful, but please don’t dismiss this out of hand. Smithson indulges in a lot of ‘blue sky thinking’, but it is a brave man indeed who’d bet against him.
1)
Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne (Con to LD)
Lord Howarth of Newport (Con to Lab)
2)
Baroness Fookes (served as dept. in both Houses)
Lord Naseby
Lord Lofthouse
I’m suggesting:
1) Alan Howarth, Baron Howarth of Newport
2) Michael Morris, Baron Naseby, Janet Fookes, Baroness Fookes and Geoffrey Lofthouse, Baron Lofthouse of Pontefract.
Congratulations to Chris K who is this week’s prize winner, having correctly identfied the two peers who switched parties while MPs and had served as vice-chairs of their original party (in this case, the Conservative Party) and also the three peers who have served in the Commons as Deputy Speakers.
IanVisits: You were pipped at the post and, as you will see, missed out Baroness Nicholson from your first answer.
I should have clarified that I was referring in the question to MPs who had served solely as Deputy Speakers. I have been reminded (by someone who conducted an academic study of Deputy Speakers) that of course Betty Boothroyd served as a Deputy Speaker before being elevated to the Speakership.