The Lord Speaker, Baroness Hayman, has announced that she will not be seeking re-election in July. The Lord Speaker is elected for a term of five years and is eligible to serve for a maximum of two terms. Baroness Hayman was the first person to be elected to the post, in 2006, after the Lord Chancellor ceased…
This evening, the Hansard Society organised a seminar on referendums. There was a panel comprising Professor Vernon Bogdanor, the journalist Steve Richards, and me – standing in for Peter Riddell, the Society’s chair, who was unable to attend. It was a well attended meeting. Vernon Bogdanor put the case for referendums, though seeing little merit in Thursday’s…
I have already done a post on my own blog about the royal wedding on Friday. It was a great event on a number of levels. It demonstrated that when it comes to pageantry, we are among the best, both in terms of logistics and getting the level right (spectacular without being over the top). …
Lord Tyler refers to the brief debate on Thursday on the report from the Procedure Committee. The report includes new rules for the election of the Lord Speaker, a defect having been found in the existing rules. The new rules provide that a Lord Speaker should be elected no later than 15 July every five…
As Lord Soley asked who was the Prime Minister who was not British-born, I thought I would stick with the theme for this week’s quiz and ask about Prime Ministers in relation to the House of Lords. As usual, the first two readers to supply the correct answers will be the winners, though feel free…
