During the course of the Second World War, there were fourteen occasions when the Palace of Westminster suffered bomb damage. On 10 May 1941, both the chamber of the Commons and Westminster Hall were on fire as a result of incendiary bombing. Walter Elliot, an MP who was on fire-watching duty, declared ‘Let the pseudo-Gothic…
I have a number of prints of the Palace of Westminster from the period shortly after it was built. They show that housing occupied the land between the Palace and Lambeth Bridge. Since then, the buildings have been demolished and replaced by Victoria Tower Gardens. As regular readers will know from an earlier post, it…
A colleague came up with an interesting observation the other evening: “The longer the title, the worse the Bill.” I can see a research project coming on…
Last week, our first grand prize-winner, Chris K. – the first reader to win three of the quizzes – visited the Lords. He joined me and fellow blogger Baroness d’Souza for tea, followed by a tour of the Palace. The picture shows us in Westminster Hall, by the steps leading up to the Grand Committee Room, where…
In the course of its inquiry into the Cabinet Office, the Constitution Committee of the Lords took evidence from Lord Turnbull, who was Cabinet Secretary in 2003 when the decision was taken to abolish the post of Lord Chancellor. He commented on the stance taken by the then Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine of Lairg, saying that…
