Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Chaos in Commons

I got another question over the ethernet (i.e. Internet) about House of Commons in the UK.

During Prime Minister's Question Time, why are people always standing up and sitting down?

The short answer is that they want to be recognized by the Speaker so they can ask a question.

The long answer is a bit more complex. And I remember it because it was one of those things the BBC commentators felt they needed to explain on the first day that Prime Minister's Question Time was televised, and I was part of the excited audience in November of 1989. And I was taping that first session for my classes.

Here's what I remember. If I've misremembered something, please tell us.

Questions for the Prime Minister are submitted to the Speaker in advance. The Speaker's staff puts the questions in a random order and numbers them. The first question is always about the PM's schedule. After that, the next question comes from the opposition side of the house. However, if randomly-numbered question 2 was asked by a governing party MP, the Speaker must recognize someone on the opposition side. So people are standing up to be recognized.

That question followed by a question from the government side and then one from the opposition side, etc. Normally, the Speaker just calls out the number of the question. Anytime the randomly-numbered question does not come from the appropriate side of the house, the Speaker must recognize an MP by name.

Since MPs don't know which question is next, anyone who want to ask a question starts standing up as the PM is completing an answer. They're hoping that maybe they'll be recognized to ask the next question.

By the way, you don't have to wait for C-SPAN2 to broadcast sessions of Commons. Parliament has TV online and a 28 day archive of past broadcasts.