Baroness Park of Monmouth died on Wednesday evening. She was 88. As various obituaries have recorded, she spent her career in MI6. She concluded her career there as Controller, Western Hemisphere. The Times referred to her as ‘one of MI6’s most treasured intelligence officers whose secret career spanned Russia, Africa, Vietnam and Mongolia.’ Her looks belied…
There were over forty speakers in yesterday’s Second Reading debate on the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill. The various delays to the Bill – introduced a year after the Joint Committee on the Bill had reported and taking seven months before being brought from the Commons – was roundly criticised from all parts of the…
The Easter recess dates have been announced and we now seem to be working to the following timetable. The House rises for the Easter recess on Tuesday 30 March. It returns on Tuesday 6 April, when it is assumed the election will be announced, with ‘wash-up’ taking place from then until Thursday 8 April. Parliament…
This week I thought I woud pose three questions that I think are relatively straightforward. They don’t require an exhaustive knowledge of peers but should appeal to those with a reasonable knowledge of recent political history. As usual, the first two readers to supply correct answers will be the winners. 1. Name at least two former…
There were some interesting exchanges in the House yesterday when Viscount Tenby asked at Question Time whether the Government planned to change the law to allow peers to vote in general elections. He pointed out that, if prisoners were allowed to vote, the only people barred from voting would be those deemed incapable of voting and…
