Lord Tyler’s post reminds me of the occasion when I gave a talk on Parliament to politics students at St Peter’s School in York. At the end of the talk, I was presented with a framed portrait of the school’s most famous old boy – Guido Fawkes! I spoke again at the school earlier this year. …
A couple of weekend quiz questions. In an earlier post, I asked readers if they could name members of the Lords who had won medals in Olympic Games. The two most obvious names were quickly offered: Lord Coe (Seb Coe) a multiple Gold medallist in athletics and Lord Moynihan (Colin Moynihan) a Silver medallist in rowing. However, the…
I was in a meeting in the Lords last week when someone referred to Westminster as ‘the mother of Parliaments’. It is not uncommon to hear such a reference. However, the 19th Century politician John Bright, who coined the phrase ‘the mother of Parliaments’, was not referring to Westminster. What he said, in a speech…
When I first entered the House, it was not unusual for the House to sit late to get through particular pieces of legislation. On occasion I spoke on, or moved, amendments around midnight or even well after. Now the practice is to try to rise by 10.00 p.m. If legislation is being considered, the House will rise…
I received yesterday a copy of the survey of public attitudes towards conduct in public life carried out by BMRB Social Research for the Committee on Standards in Public Life. The survey, conducted earlier this year, covers the media as well as politicians. Its findings on the media tend to reinforce the points made in my…
