The Palace of Westminster, originally built in the 11th century, was the home of royals for hundreds of years. That was until the 16th century, when King Edward VI gave the palace to Parliament, some years after a fire forced his father Henry VIII to move out. The one thousand-room, neo-gothic-style building that we see today was designed in the 19th century by the architect Charles Barry, after another devastating fire. It incorporates rooms from the medieval Old Palace, from the 19th century, and some that were rebuilt in the 1940s following damage caused by Nazi bombers during World War II. Barry’s Elizabeth Tower features the famous four clock dials and large bell known as Big Ben.
GREAT RIVALS
Inside, the 920-year-old Westminster Hall is the oldest part of the Palace. At its far end on the left, St. Stephen’s Hall is a 19th century rebuilding of a former chapel. Here, statues of celebrated politicians line the walls, as this was once where the House of Commons met. Its long, narrow interior defined the way that the ruling party confronted the opposition.
THE HOUSES
The octagonal Central Lobby is where the House of Lords and the House of Commons divide. One corridor leads to the Lords’ Chamber, with its red leather benches, and ornate Sovereign’s Throne, dating back to 1847. Another corridor leads to the Commons Chamber with its famous green benches, which dates back to the 1940s. Other rooms include the vast Royal Gallery, used for important state occasions, and the Robing Room, where the Queen prepares for the annual State Opening of Parliament.
THE LEANING TOWER
In 2017, Big Ben’s famous bell was silenced and Elizabeth Tower closed for essential conservation works. While the Tower will reopen in 2021, the rest of the Palace of Westminster remains in need of extensive refurbishment that will begin in the mid-2020s. Politicians and staff will have to vacate the building, and the House of Commons will meet in Richmond House, four miles to the west, in an exact replica of the Commons Chamber.
RULE BRITANNIA
While it may seem that Brexit has caused more division than ever before, the history of the UK Parliament is, in fact, fraught by drama and disaster, giving rise to a continual process of reform and self-renewal. Sophie Drewery is among the two thousand staff and officers that are employed there. As Visitor Engagement Assistant, her job is to help people with whatever they might need in order to visit: the public can watch debates happen live from public galleries, or they can go on specialist tours of the Palace of Westminster, which take place when the Houses are not ‘sitting’. When Speak Up met with Drewery, we began by asking her why the UK Parliament met in a palace.
Sophie Drewery (English accent): It was the home of kings and queens for hundreds of years from the mid-11th century, but then in the year 1512, when Henry VIII was king, there was a fire in the palace and they had to carry out repair work. Everyone moved to the Palace of Whitehall and Henry VIII never moved back. His son Edward VI formally gave this building to Parliament. We didn’t actually have a home at all before that point. We would go wherever the king happened to be in the country.
two teams
Today, Monarch, Lords and Commons form the three branches of the UK Parliament. Two distinct Houses of Parliament had already emerged in the 14th century when representatives from towns and counties began to meet as the House of Commons, and archbishops, bishops and noblemen formed the House of Lords. The power of the monarch, which had been absolute, was beginning to weaken. When the Commons finally got their own space in the 16th century, they all had to squeeze into St. Stephen’s Hall.
Sophie Drewery: They had to make do with what they had: a chapel that had been deconsecrated under Henry VIII. From St. Stephen’s Chapel is where we get this idea of having one side along one side of the room and the opposition along the other side. St. Stephen’s Chapel was a long rectangular room, as our current House of Commons chamber is today. It would have been a very cramped space.
A balance of power
All laws go through the Commons and the Lords before requesting Royal assent. No one body has absolute power. The 1689 Bill of Rightslaid down the principles of parliamentary supremacy over the crown. Today, a balance of power is maintained by the independence of the House of Commons and the Lords.
The work of both houses is similar: making laws (legislation), checking the work of the government (scrutiny), and debating current issues.
The Members of the Commons – better known as Members of Parliament or MPs – are elected by the public. Each constituency (or region) in the UK elects one MP to the House of Commons. The members of the House of Lords, however, are not voted for by the public: sometimes people inherit their status from their family, others are specially chosen by the prime minister and appointed by the Queen because they are experts in one or more fields. The main task of the House of Lords is to debate new laws proposed by the House of Commons, and to make suggestions about changes to those laws.When both Houses agree on the law, the Queen then approves it.
fire!
In 1834 there was another fire, this one much more catastrophic. Drewery explained how it began.
Sophie Drewery: There used to be something called ‘tally sticks’ and it was essentially an old form of receipt-keeping. But then paper became very cheap to produce so they were left with thousands of these sticks. And they decided what better place to get rid of them than by burning them in the basement of the Houses of Parliament. Almost the entire Palace went up in flames.
mark of history
Two hundred years later, tragedy struck again. During World War II the Palace was bombed on fourteen different occasions, and the House of Commons was completely destroyed. Prime Minister Winston Churchill called on Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, designer of London’s iconic red telephone box, to build a new Chamber; a wall was retained that shows damage from the bombs.
Sophie Drewery: It was designed in the same style and in the same amount of space as the original House of Commons Chamber under Churchill’s influence. He felt it was really important that you could look at the person you were talking to as you were debating with them, and also that you could actually hear them. Back then they didn’t have those microphones.
fair play
If you watch a House of Commons debate online, it may seem chaotic and overtly ceremonial with an archaic language that is hard to understand. In fact, it is all about being fair, polite and concise, rules rigorously enforced by the Speaker. An internally elected role, founded in 1377, it is the Speaker who decides who speaks, when and for how long. She or he does so with the help of some basic technology and a white line or ‘bar’ across the width of the chamber floor, as Drewery explained.
Sophie Drewery: You come past the Speaker side of the bar if you speak in the debate. The front benches, near to the Speaker’s chair, are where ministers [the Prime Minister and the twenty-two cabinet ministers] sit. On the table in front you’ve got two boxes, those are called the ‘despatch boxes’. If a minister is answering or asking questions they will be sitting in front of that despatch box. Sometimes the Speaker will impose a time limit on how long people can speak for.
ORDER! ORDER!
The Speaker, referred to as Mister or Madam Speaker, also enforces the rules. Drewery listed a few of them.
Sophie Drewery: You are not allowed to refer to MPs by their actual names.So, “The Right Honourable Gentleman” or “The Right Honourable Lady” or “My Honourable Friend”, or you could mention their constituency: “The Honourable Member for North West Norfolk.” Everybody has to be polite to each other. You are not allowed to accuse anyone of lying. You are not allowed to accuse anyone of being drunk... Things like general agreement... ‘Hear, hear!’ that’s what they would normally say when they were agreeing. That kind of thing is allowed. If you were to shout a huge sentence at someone on the other side of the room that would not be allowed. And that’s one of the reasons why the Speaker will do his famous: ‘Order! Order!’
The Commons
Form of address: Right Honourable gentleman, lady / The Honourable Member for [constituency] / My Honourable Friend (same party).
Job: full-time elected politicians that draft the laws.
650 members are elected for a five-year term.
The Lords (or Peers)
Form of address: Lord (men) or Baroness (women).
Peers are appointed for life (since 1999, only 92 inherited their right to sit in the House of Lords).
Job: experts in one or more areas (business, sport, entertainment...).
770 members scrutinise the relevant laws of the Commons.