Britain’s Parliament grabbed control Monday of the government’s efforts to leave the European Union, challenging the country’s political traditions and inflicting on Prime Minister Theresa May a rebuke not suffered by any recent predecessor.
By stepping into the process known as Brexit and trying to define an alternative path, lawmakers could create a constitutional showdown in Britain, where the government normally controls the agenda in Parliament, especially on its most pressing issues.
Parliament passed an amendment giving itself the power to vote on alternatives to the government’s Brexit plan…
Mrs. May’s grip on power is ebbing, with members of her cabinet openly discussing contradictory Brexit policies, rumors swirling of a plot to replace her and several of her Conservative Party lawmakers calling on her to name a date for her departure from power…
Parliament’s attempt to take control was led by Oliver Letwin, a veteran Conservative lawmaker, and is driven largely by fear of leaving without an agreement, a rupture that could leave ports jammed and cause huge economic dislocation…
Under the amendment… which passed by a vote of 329 to 302, Parliament will hold a series of votes on Wednesday on alternatives to Mrs. May’s plan.
These could include a so-called “soft Brexit” that would keep Britain tied into European economic structures; a second referendum, revoking Brexit completely; or leaving without any deal…
Demonstrably, discipline has almost completely broken down inside the government and there is a feeling among many at Westminster that something has to give soon…
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A Russian lawmaker has been arrested on murder charges while inside Russia's upper house of parliament on Wednesday, state media report.
Arashukov
Rauf Arashukov is accused of being involved in the 2010 killing of two people and other crimes, said the Investigative Committee of Russia.
The senator for the North Caucasus republic of Karachay-Cherkessia was detained in a parliamentary session.
He has previously denied the accusations against him.
His parliamentary immunity has now been revoked, Ria Novosti news agency reports.
He was arrested while in a parliamentary chamber as it was feared he would try to flee, a source told the state news agency.
Investigators believe the 32-year-old senator is involved in two contract killings in Cherkessk, the capital of the semi-autonomous region of Karachay-Cherkessia.
Aslan Zhukov, the leader of the youth movement Adyge-Khase, was shot dead in March 2010.
Two months later, Fral Shebkhuzov, an adviser to Karachay-Cherkessia's president, was beaten and shot dead…
The lawmaker, who became a senator in 2016, is also accused of "document fraud that allowed him to become a senator", Russia media reports say.
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Just The Facts! 2nd editionis a concise guide to concepts, terminology, and examples that will appear on May's exam.
In the wretched purgatory that was Westminster last week, there was precisely one person who seemed to be having fun.
From the silk-canopied speaker’s chair of the House of Commons, John Bercow looked out over Britain’s squabbling Parliament and brayed, “Order! Order!” in that undrownoutable voice, something like an air-raid siren with postnasal drip…
The outside world rarely takes much notice of the speaker of the House of Commons, a nonpartisan and typically low-profile figure who presides over parliamentary debates. But Britain’s last-minute paralysis over exiting the European Union, or Brexit, has made Mr. Bercow into a kind of celebrity.
With less than 10 weeks left before the country is set to leave the bloc, he has broken precedent by wresting some control over the Brexit decision-making from Prime Minister Theresa May…
The speaker heading toward Commons
It is an extraordinary moment for Mr. Bercow, the 56-year-old son of a cabdriver from North London. An outsider sometimes mocked for his short stature (he is 5 foot 6½), he propelled himself through the Oxbridge-educated upper reaches of British society by sheer determination and is viewed, variously, as a sharp-elbowed bully and a champion of the rights of Parliament…
Even in the hyper-loquacious environment of British politics, Mr. Bercow stands out for his love of ornate language and withering insult.
“He could never say, ‘It’s great to see you’ ”; instead he would say, ‘It gives me inestimable pleasure to meet you for the finest condiments created by Mrs. Twinings,’ ” a colleague told Mr. Friedman, his biographer…
Mr. Bercow has made a career out of annoying his conservative colleagues. Some are still seething over his decision not to wear the traditional speaker’s regalia, including wig and knee-breeches, which he said created “a barrier between Parliament and the public.” …
But nothing has approached the fury that followed his decision to allow lawmakers to amend a business motion — effectively curbing the government’s powers….
Crispin Blunt, a lawmaker from the conservative Tory party, protested that Mr. Bercow could no longer claim to be a neutral arbiter on the issue of Brexit and should step down…
Ian Dunt, a political commentator who opposes Brexit, said the government has sidelined Parliament throughout the process, claiming that the referendum had provided the executive with a more direct form of sovereignty…
He compared this moment to 1642, when King Charles strode into the House of Commons and demanded that five lawmakers be arrested for treason. The speaker at the time, William Lenthall, refused his orders, telling the king in a famous speech that he acted solely on behalf of the House of Commons…
His precociousness and small stature did not ingratiate him to schoolyard bullies. Mr. Friedman said they threw him into a pond, laughing and saying, “Bercow can be in there with the other amphibians.” In university, “we’d quote Monty Python and he’d quote” the 19th-century Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, Andrew Crosbie, a fellow Tory activist, told Mr. Friedman.
He found his tribe in politics, a profession where his verbosity was an asset…
The events of the last week have won him praise from unusual quarters. The Times of London, calling him “hardly a sympathetic individual,” wrote approvingly of his actions, saying the government’s treatment of Parliament “has appeared drawn from the 17th century, frequently invoking the will of the people, much as the early Stuarts used to assert the divine right of kings.”…
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Just The Facts! 2nd editionis a concise guide to concepts, terminology, and examples that will appear on May's exam.
This is one of the better explanations of the politics of Brexit that I've seen. It comes from a generally liberal source, but this article seems pretty unbiased.
More than two years after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, Brexit is almost here. Yet while the country is scheduled to depart on March 29, 2019, Britain is as divided over the issue as it ever has been.
Prime Minister Theresa May has agreed the terms of the ‘divorce’ with the leaders of the EU’s remaining member states, but lawmakers in the British parliament still have to approve the so-called Withdrawal Agreement.
In ordinary times, a Conservative government with a simple majority would be able to get the deal through the House of Commons with little fuss.
But these are extraordinary times. May cannot rely on the support from members of parliament in her own party – much less Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which has been propping up May’s minority government since her disastrous general election last year.
As it stands, as May bizarrely takes her Brexit plan around the country as if on the election trail, no commentator in the country expects the prime minister to get enough support when MPs vote on December 11. The only question, it seems, is how heavily she is defeated.
Then what? That’s where things get more unpredictable, with the outcomes ranging wildly from the prospect of another general election to no Brexit at all…
On Tuesday, MPs began five days of debates…
The Withdrawal Agreement they are debating outlines the terms on which the UK will leave the EU and the desired future relationship…
Some 20 Conservative MPs have said publicly they will vote against May’s deal…
Given that May doesn’t have a majority in parliament, she will be relying on support from opposition parties. May’s minority government ally, the DUP, who usually vote with the government to help them pass legislation, has also expressed its own concerns with how the deal risks separating the island of Ireland from the mainland as a trading territory…
The bottom line is this: the chance of the deal being approved with the simple majority of 320 of the 639 MPs eligible to vote is highly unlikely…
In the unlikely event that scores of MPs from across the political spectrum swing behind the embattled prime minister, it will allow the government to introduce the EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill to the Commons either before Christmas or after recess (the holiday for parliament), in January.
While no guarantee of the legislation passing, it would suggest an orderly procession towards the EU exit doors…
You would expect Theresa May’s premiership to be over, right? While that’s a likely outcome, it is not the only one…
[I]f faced with the threat of a calamitous no-deal Brexit and following a narrow Commons defeat, May might fancy testing [the EU's] resolve and seeing if she can get at least some cosmetic changes to appease enough MPs to win a second vote…
Yes, taking the deal to the public is an option. May has ruled it out, and Labour has backed the idea - but only if they do not get a general election…
The ‘Hail Mary’ pass. The Prime Minister could hope that voters will - via the ballot box - back her plan. Her fellow Conservatives are anxious to avoid this route after the 2017 election…
As the opposition, the Labour Party would have to win a vote of ‘no confidence’ in the prime minister in parliament. May would then be relying on the Conservatives to put together a government which could win a second vote of no confidence, and if not a general election would be called. It would mean the DUP and a clutch of Tory rebels would have to side with Corbyn, which seems unlikely.
A series of dire warnings, most grimly spelled out by the Bank of England, suggest the impact of leaving the EU without a deal on March 29 could be a disaster. Some Tory eurosceptics - dubbed the Brexiteers - say much of this is an exaggeration. But if everything else fails it’s possible that ‘crashing out’ could happen.
The most unlikely prospect, but one given fresh momentum after the European Court of Justice indicated on Tuesday that the UK could simply change its mind and abandon Brexit - without needing the approval of the 27 other EU states. It would be wise not to rule anything out.
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The speaker of the House of Commons, the present one was chosen by the Conservatives, has a great deal of power, but it is mostly used in traditional ways. Not so, the other day. Boris Johnson, the foreign minister, has a lot of power and a lack of inhibition.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has a habit of putting his foot in his mouth
He once described Hillary Clinton as “a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital” with “dyed blond hair and pouty lips, and a steely blue stare.”…
In an on-camera interview, he somewhat nonsensically compared the European Union to a “gigantic lobster. With butter sauce.”…
And in Parliament on Tuesday, he referred to Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary for the opposition Labour Party, as Lady Nugee. Nugee is the last name of Thornberry's husband, Christopher.
Johnson appeared to be disparaging Thornberry for asking whether the government is prepared to take Russia to an international criminal court over the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter on British soil…
That comment prompted a sharp admonition from the speaker of the House of Commons, who deemed it “sexist” and “inappropriate.”
“We do not namecall in this chamber,” John Bercow said to applause from Labour lawmakers. “We do not address people by the titles of their spouses. The shadow foreign secretary has a name, and it is not 'Lady Something.' ”
Bercow went on: “It is inappropriate and frankly sexist to speak in those terms, and I am not having it in this chamber. That is the end of the matter. That parlance is not legitimate, and it will not be allowed, and it will be called out.”…
“I heartily tender my apologies to the right honorable lady if she was offended by what I said, and I meant no harm,” Johnson said…
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Just The Facts! 2nd editionis a concise guide to concepts, terminology, and examples that will appear on May's exam.
In the old-fashioned fox hunt, the whips rode alongside the hounds to keep them going in the right direction. They probably used whips sometimes. But Parliamentary whips are not supposed to be so physical when trying to keep MPs in line.
Dark rumours have been circulating around Westminster this week about the government whipping operation, with talk of misdemeanour lists to keep troublesome MPs in line, and alleged attempts to put pressure on those threatening to rebel on Brexit…
Julian Smith
An observer said Julian Smith, the relatively new chief whip, oversaw a military style “command and control” operation in which officer whips were expected to keep their “flock of MPs” under control.
Whatever the techniques deployed, their efforts were in vain after enough Conservative MPs stood firm on the question of a “meaningful vote” on the final Brexit deal to defeat the prime minister.
The loss was so humiliating, according to some sources, that it left Smith slumped against a wall in the voting lobbies, with tear-stained eyes…
But despite the claims and counter-claims, at least one Brexiter MP,… thinks this intake of Conservatives are being given a much easier ride than in days gone by. Another MP who has been in parliament for many years said the whips treated MPs with “kid gloves” in 2017 compared with under John Major’s premiership…
[S]ome claim that Smith has returned to the techniques of the old days. One MP said his team had “swallowed too many DVDs of Game of Thrones and House of Cards – and think that is how you behave”. “It is a mistake,” the MP added…
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If you have been paying attention here, you heard about Black Rod earlier this year. Now, it seems, that for the first time in 650 years, a woman will serve as Black Rod. (Trivia nearly guaranteed not to show up on THE exam.)
Black Rod - a Parliamentary role that can trace its origins back 650 years - is to be a woman for the first time.
Sarah Clarke is currently in charge of organising the Wimbledon tennis championships.
She will be known as The Lady Usher of the Black Rod when she starts her new job early next year.
The Lady Usher of the Black Rod
Black Rod is best known for the State Opening of Parliament, knocking on the door of the House of Commons to summon MPs for the Queen's Speech.
As well as organising ceremonial events, Black Rod, who can earn up to £93,000 a year, manages a team of 30 staff involved in the day-to-day running of the House of Lords…
[Clarke] said the House of Lords was "a place where the smallest detail is as important as the big picture and the depth of heritage and tradition is second to none," adding: "I am truly looking forward to starting work."
Lord Fowler, who as the Speaker of the House of Lords advised the Queen on the appointment, said it was an "historic moment".
He said Black Rod played an important role behind the scenes "in organising addresses to Parliament by visiting heads of state and other state events, as well as ensuring we have appropriate plans in place to keep the important work of the Lords going in a crisis".
He added: "Sarah's fantastic record at Wimbledon and elsewhere shows she is the right person for the task."
Black Rod summons MPs to the Lords to hear the Queen's Speech but has the door to the House of Commons slammed in his face, and has to knock three times to gain entry.
He is the monarch's representative in the House of Lords and the routine is symbolic of the House of Commons' independence from the Crown…
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While reading an article this morning, I came across a bit of obscure trivia that reminded me of the detail expected of students of AP U.S. Government and Politics.
I came to know this trivia because I taught the Comparative course for 20 years and learned lots of trivia that never was relevant for AP exams. Maybe it's a good footnote to Parliamentary procedure.
In an article about a motion in the UK Parliament to investigate former PM Tony Blair for lying to Parliament (in order to get approval to join the US-led coalition to invade Iraq) reporter Jessica Elgot mentions, "There is only a one-line whip on attendance by Labour MPs but those who turn up are expected to vote against the motion. At a private meeting of Labour MPs on Monday night, backbenchers voted almost unanimously to urge the shadow cabinet to mandate a three-line whip against the motion, which was overruled by the leadership… "
One line whip? How about a two line whip? or a three line whip?
The term the whip was derived from hunting terminology. The whipper-in is defined as ‘a huntsman's assistant who keeps the hounds from straying by driving them back with the whip into the main body of the pack.'
"A Member of Parliament, who is a member of a political party, will usually receive the weekly circular or 'whip' each week traditionally by post and these days by email. It is an A4 size of paper listing under each day the business of the House with one, two or three lines drawn underneath.
"One line means that that the business is not deemed very important or that the Opposition are not opposing it so it can pass through the House unimpeded and the member is not required to attend.
"Two lines means that the a vote might be expected but the Government is unlikely to lose that vote. Loyalist MP's will most likely still attend to ingratiate themselves with the party leadership (front benchers).
"Three lines is a specific instruction to attend and vote with the Government 'line' or policy.
"Not to vote on a three line whip is a potentially disciplinary matter… "
There are whips in the U.S. Congress as well. They are usually assistants to the party leaders whose job is to inform party members of the party position and get them to attend and vote appropriately.
See also Whips, from the Parliament's web site.
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Surprisingly, at least to those of us in the USA, the current and previous Conservative governments have had troubles with the House of Lords. Aren't the old aristocrats supposed to be conservative? It turns out that some Tories were so upset that they proposed limiting the power of the Lords.
The government has decided against a new law to curb the powers of the House of Lords to block legislation.
Former House of Lords leader Lord Strathclyde came up with a proposal to remove peers' veto over laws - called statutory instruments - after a series of government defeats last year.
The government said it now had "no plans" for legislation on the issue.
But it warned peers it could reconsider unless they showed "discipline and self regulation"…
Some Lords in session
In a statement to peers, Baroness Evans, the leader of the House of Lords, said the will of elected MPs should prevail where there was a clash between the House of Commons and the House of Lords over a statutory instrument…
Unlike with regular legislation, there is not currently a mechanism to assert the Commons' primacy on statutory instruments, so the government relies on the "discipline and self regulation that this House imposes on itself", she said.
"Should that break down we would have to reflect on this decision."…
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The government's planned new laws have been set out by the Queen - including the biggest prison shake-up in England and Wales "since Victorian times"…
The 21-Bill agenda also includes support for a spaceport and driverless cars - but a planned British Bill of Rights has been put on hold.
David Cameron called it "a One Nation speech from a One Nation government"…
The speech is being seen as an attempt to secure a legacy of social reform for the prime minister but critics say it will be overshadowed by 23 June's referendum on whether Britain should remain in the EU, which has split the Cabinet…
But the government was still pre-occupied with the EU referendum and the fear that "if they don't win David Cameron might not be prime minister in six or seven weeks' time", she added.
The Queen made only the briefest of direct references to her government holding "a referendum on membership of the European Union".
But - in a move that may be seen as an attempt to reassure voters ahead of the EU referendum - she added: "My ministers will uphold the sovereignty of Parliament and the primacy of the House of Commons."…
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The Comparative Government and Politics Review Checklist.
Two pages summarizing the course requirements to help you review and study for the final and for the big exam in May. . It contains a description of comparative methods, a list of commonly used theories, a list of vital concepts, thumbnail descriptions of the AP6, and
a description of the AP exam format. $2.00. Order HERE.
British Prime Minister David Cameron is dealing with fallout over revelations that he profited from an offshore investment fund set up by his late father.
Cameron’s connection to the fund was exposed by the leak of millions of financial documents at a law firm that specialized in helping create offshore companies…
On Tuesday, Cameron made a statement about the revelations. As is tradition in the British Parliament, members of the House were allowed to react with questions and comments.
Skinner
Labor member of Parliament Dennis Skinner, who represents the Bolsover district in central England, was one of the prime minister’s most vocal critics that day.
While jabbing a finger in the air, Skinner called Cameron “dodgy Dave,” which elicited jeers and laughter in the chamber.
Commons Speaker John Bercow asked Skinner to withdraw his comment, but Skinner doubled down and repeated the phrase. House rules stipulate that members of Parliament shouldn't call their peers liars…
Speaker Bercow then invoked the power of Standing Order Number 43, sending Skinner on his way. According to the U.K. Parliament, Standing Order 43 refers to disorderly conduct and states that “The Speaker, or the chairman, shall order any member or members whose conduct is grossly disorderly to withdraw immediately from the House during the remainder of that day's sitting.”
Teaching Comparative blog entries are indexed. Use the search box to look for country names or concept labels attached to each entry.
Amazon's customers gave this book a 5-star rating.
The Comparative Government and Politics Review Checklist.
Two pages summarizing the course requirements to help you review and study for the final and for the big exam in May. . It contains a description of comparative methods, a list of commonly used theories, a list of vital concepts, thumbnail descriptions of the AP6, and
a description of the AP exam format. $2.00. Order HERE.
A rambling description and analysis about events last fall when the majority in Lords threatened a basic piece of government legislation. It is, though, full of good little insights into the institution.
It is late October in the House of Lords and the chamber is full. The peers squeeze on to benches, or crowd four deep around the throne. The government has threatened to suspend the Lords, which is about to debate the abolition of tax credits. It is not the first time this House, which was last suspended by Oliver Cromwell, has faced an existential threat…
No one has to attend the Lords, and no one is paid a salary for doing so (for those who turn up, there is an allowance of £300 a day, expenses not included)…
This debate, then, is about whether the Lords have the authority to overrule the Commons. The answer is: they do…
The Lords' speaker on her wool sack
The debate is grandiose and self-consciously polite, as if the peers cannot forget that every word will be transcribed into Hansard, where it will remain after everyone is dead. There is none of the shrieking anti-intellectualism of the House of Commons: 500 men auditioning to lead News At Ten…
Molly Meacher, a crossbencher [independent], frets that she is “acutely conscious of the threats made by the government to destroy this House”. She does not enjoy this kind of pressure, she says…
[T]he day after the debate, the government also commissions a review into the Lords’ powers: Lord Strathclyde, a former Tory leader of the House, is asked to write it. The Tories do not want a nest of opposition, where Labour can combine with Liberal Democrats and crossbenchers to thwart them…
The House of Lords is the second largest legislature in the world after the National People’s Congress in China. Never elected, and reformed only piecemeal, it is also the oddest. The ladies toilets are green marble, and contain a red leather chaise longue. The doorkeepers wear white tie, like pianists. Nigel Lawson does not wear a coat, but an opera cloak. Black Rod, who is in charge of security, wears an ornamental ruffle at his throat.
The Lords has 859 members, and a chamber built to seat 240. The average age is 69. Death used to be the only exit (now you can retire)… There is a library, a dining room, a tea room, a bar, committee rooms and offices (six peers can share just one office). These offices house the 92 hereditary peers who survived the Blairite cull in 1999, as well as scientists, historians, former civil servants, lawyers, surgeons, party hacks and donors, a dentist, a cheese maker, former MPs, diplomats, a children’s TV presenter and 26 bishops…
I visit the Labour leader, Angela Smith, in her gloomy office. She is friendly and intensely normal; she grew up on a council estate in Essex. She complains about the red robes which – and I am told many times, by peers, to emphasise this – they wear only at the state opening of parliament. “We wouldn’t photograph you in your Halloween costume and then pretend you wear it every day,”…
Labour’s official policy is for an elected House of Lords, but in the meantime they will work with what there is. In the three months I lurk here, they will drag concessions from the government over the cities and local government devolution bill, the Bank of England bill, the psychoactive substances bill, the charities bill, the enterprise bill, the criminal courts charges regulations and the welfare reform and work bill…
The Lords is a place of paradox. It is, for instance, kinder to women than the Commons is. “There is no sense of boys throwing bread rolls and nanny will stop them. Women are heard here,” Hollis [Labour member] says. It is more inclusive…
It is not an ideal place for a woman with young children who does not live in London, or for women who aren’t financially secure. Even so, both Labour and Conservative leaders are female, and there has never been a male Lord Speaker…
[Lord] Strathclyde says a fight between the Commons and the Lords has been brewing since 1999…
In 1999, they were promised a two-stage reform: remove the hereditary peers, then get a fully democratic house. “We got the first but not the second; 17 years later, we are still waiting.” Strathclyde gives a slightly bitter laugh…
Teaching Comparative blog entries are indexed. Use the search box to look for country names or concept labels attached to each entry.
Amazon's customers gave this book a 5-star rating.
The Comparative Government and Politics Review Checklist.
Two pages summarizing the course requirements to help you review and study for the final and for the big exam in May. . It contains a description of comparative methods, a list of commonly used theories, a list of vital concepts, thumbnail descriptions of the AP6, and
a description of the AP exam format. $2.00. Order HERE.
Jeremy Corbyn is to offer a free vote to MPs on David Cameron’s proposals for UK to bomb Isis in Syria but will make clear that Labour party policy is to oppose airstrikes…
Do you know what a "free vote" is in the context of Parliamentary politics?
His decision averts the threat of a mass shadow cabinet walkout while making it clear that his own firmly held opposition to airstrikes is official Labour party policy, backed by the membership…
A "free vote" is one of those rare occasions when MPs are "allowed" to vote against their party's policy position.
Teaching Comparative blog entries are indexed. Use the search box to look for country names or concept labels attached to each entry.
The Comparative Government and Politics Review Checklist.
Two pages summarizing the course requirements to help you review and study for the final and for the big exam in May. It contains a description of comparative methods, a list of commonly used theories, a list of vital concepts, thumbnail descriptions of the AP6, and
a description of the AP exam format. $2.00. Order HERE.
Just The Facts! 2nd editionis a concise guide to concepts, terminology, and examples that will appear on May's exam.
Like a lot of Brits, those of us who have watched Commons for years have become inured to the eccentricities of MPs' behaviors. Newcomers bring a new persective.
Westminster must decide whether it is a museum or a functional parliament, according to the UK's youngest MP.
Mhairi Black, aged 20, was elected as MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South in May amid a wave of SNP dominance in Scotland.
Her maiden speech in the House of Commons became a viral hit, racking up millions of views…
On the issue of the no clapping rule in the House of Commons she said: "So you're not allowed to clap like an ordinary person, but you're allowed to bray like a donkey?
"I mean, see PMQs, especially the Conservative side, they've got this weird noise they do. It actually sounds like a drunken mob." …
She also suggested the tradition of having to vote in person, rather than electronically, was outdated.
"Are we genuinely saying that the Underground can log millions of travellers, day in, day out, without a problem, and 650 of us can't hit a button?
"It's just stupid. A couple of Mondays ago, I didn't get home until half past midnight because we were voting. How is anybody with a family supposed to work those hours?"…
As in the US Congress when members give speeches, there were few people in Commons when Ms Black gave her first speech. Her SNP colleagues were the main audience. So there were few "bray" noises and many "Hear! Hear!" cheers that substitute for applause.
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The simplistic description of parliamentary government says that if the government loses a vote, the government falls. Well, nothing can be that simple. Not all votes are equal. Not all defeats are disastrous.
(BTW, do you know why, in the photo below, the seats behind the PM are so well populated?)
Liberal Democrat and Labour MPs have joined forces to defeat Conservatives in a Commons vote to partly overturn housing benefit changes.
MPs backed the Affordable Homes Bill at second reading by 306 votes to 231…
The issue has split the coalition, with Lib Dem and Tory MPs and ministers voting along party lines…
After the vote, Conservative MP Philip Davies accused the Lib Dems - who backed the plans when they were initially approved by Parliament - of being "devious and untrustworthy".
He suggested there would now be a "free for all" for the remainder of the Parliament and the coalition government had "officially come to an end"…
And Labour's Rachel Reeves [said] "David Cameron and Nick Clegg's cruel and unfair 'bedroom tax' has hit hundreds of thousands of people across the country causing misery, hardship and forcing families to rely on food banks."
Typical day in commons. Not a full house. Like Congress?
Tory, Labour and Lib Dem MPs turned out in force to vote on the first stage of the bill, which would overturn aspects of controversial government legislation which came into force in April 2013…
What were the original changes?
The government's changes affected housing benefit, which is paid to less well-off tenants to help with rent.
In the past, claimants typically received between £50 and £100 a week. Since April 2013, tenants deemed to have one spare room have seen their rent support cut by 14% and those with two or more rooms by 25%.
Tenants can apply for discretionary housing payments to fill any shortfall between their benefit entitlement and the rent.
They can also downsize, but problems have arisen in some areas where there is a shortage of smaller homes. Campaigners say those affected face being forced to move long distances to find a property, or move into the private sector, where rents could be higher...
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Thanks to Alan Carter for helping me understand things like the debates over grammar schools, comprehensive schools, and assisted places in the UK. (The debates are similar to those I learned about in Germany some 20 years ago.)
Thanks too to the editors at The Economist for writing (in the American edition at least) about politics in ways insulated Americans can understand.
The big question, seems to me, to be whether party and Parliamentary politics are heading for significant changes. The Economist editors hint at those possiblities. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
DURING the 2010 general-election campaign, the Conservative Party created a satirical broadcast on behalf of the imaginary Hung Parliament Party…. The implication was that voters should return a Tory government with a nice big majority. Perhaps it was too subtle: Britain ended up with precisely the hung parliament the Tories feared.
In many ways the warning was exaggerated…. Yet the government is struggling to deal with many big, difficult issues. A growing pile of tough decisions has been put aside until after the next election, due to take place in 2015. This will profoundly shape the next government—if it does not smother it.
Another folder, marked “London’s airports”, has gathered dust for more than a year…
Even on its defining mission of repairing the national finances… but have delayed much of the pain until after the 2015 vote.
In January David Cameron, the Conservative prime minister, tried to placate Eurosceptics in his party by promising a renegotiation of Britain’s EU membership…
Partly, this backlog is the product of the hung parliament, just as the Tories warned in 2010. Conservatives and Lib Dems have long disagreed on Europe, nuclear weapons and the role of the state. Where they cannot agree, they do not have a majority. But the in-tray has also swelled because the parties are split internally…
And the pile of unresolved issues tells a bigger story: the British parliamentary machine is under strain. It is designed to generate decisions not through bipartisanship (as in some of its European counterparts) but through debate and confrontation. Government and opposition MPs sit on opposing benches behind their leaders, the two pistons of the decision-making engine. Leaders are supposed to clash, MPs to obey them and one side to prevail.
Three things are jamming this motor. First, smaller parties are curbing the dominance of the two big parties (down from 81% of the vote in 1979 to 65% in 2010), making coalitions more likely and complicating debates… It is harder for Mr Cameron to be sensible about Europe with the UK Independence Party, which wants Britain to leave the EU, nipping at his heels.
Second, constituents are becoming more demanding—petitioning MPs, tracking their voting records online and hectoring them over cherished issues…
Third, partly under pressure from constituents—and partly because the internet also enables MPs to develop profiles independently of their parties—parliamentarians are much less obedient to their leaders…
The next prime minister will enter Downing Street with this pile of unfinished business looming over him. Events will force him to confront much of it. And when he does, it could rend his party, particularly if he has a small majority and is thus at the mercy of troublesome backbenchers. Labour is just as divided over Europe, press regulation, airports and austerity as the Conservatives are… For that reason, the large to-do list may determine who runs Britain. If the result of the election is close, even the most tribal leader may see safety (and political stability) in numbers, and plump for another coalition.
Eric Black, a thoughtful journalist at MinnPost speculates and asks a couple experts. It's not a thorough comparison, but it offers an introduction to analysis and discussion.
Deep question: What would the great shutdown crisis of 2013 look like if the United States had a parliamentary system instead of the presidential system created in our Constitution?
Simple-minded answer: It wouldn’t have occurred. In a typical parliamentary system, there is either just one house of parliament or (more commonly) one house has most of the power. So you wouldn’t get a standoff in which the two houses couldn’t agree on a budget because they were controlled by different parties.
And in a classic, let’s say British-styled system, you wouldn’t get a situation in which the leader of the executive branch (in our case, the president) is at loggerheads with the party that controlled the legislative branch. In a parliamentary system the chief executive (prime minister) is the leader of the majority party in the legislative branch (or the prime minister leads a coalition of parties that constitutes the majority in the powerful house of the parliament)…
In the case of a coalition made up of two or more parties… There is always the possibility that the coalition might break up… In that case, in a parliamentary system, there are two things that typically occur, either of which would (theoretically) prevent a long-standoff/gridlock/meltdown such as the United States has just endured.
Thing one: A new negotiation might result in a new majority coalition, possibly with a somewhat different lineup of partners.
Thing two: The crisis would lead to a “snap election.”…
U of M political scientist Kathryn Sikkink… didn’t take long to caution me against the danger, in such a moment, of “romanticizing” other systems.
It took only another moment for her to mention the case of the parliamentary meltdown in Belgium in 2010-2011… it ended up taking a record 353 days to form a coalition that could command majority support.
Professor Alfred Montero, chairman of Carleton College’s political science department… led me on a longer tour of the contrasts between the two basic models and some special features that make the U.S. system unusual.
The “presidential system,” which is what scholars call the U.S. system, predominates mostly in the Americas. The parliamentary system predominates in Europe.
Among the presidential systems, ours is characterized by one of the weakest presidencies, Montero said…
One of the unusual features of our system… is what Montero calls by the snappy nickname “symmetrical bicameralism.” Many of the world’s legislative branches have two houses. But in most cases, one of the houses has most of the power…
But in our system, both houses are very powerful, roughly equal…
From the kind of international comparative standpoint that Montero brings, the U.S. system is also characterized by weak parties. Or perhaps one should say weak party leaderships…
The loud "Hear, hear" and the opposing "Shame, shame" calls in the UK's House of Commons have become common knowledge since the first live radio broadcast in 1978. Ten years later, television brought the sometimes rowdy scene to more people (although the fixed cameras didn't often allow viewers to identify the loud rowdies).
One comparative politics textbook does note that sessions begin late in the day and that there are several members' bars in Westminster that open before sessions of Commons commence.
It took the report of a visiting Canadian parliamentarian to bring that connection into wider circulation.
[BTW, if you want to use this article with younger students, be aware that the offending MP is quoted as using a 'not safe for classroom' epithet.]
Canada’s Speaker of the House Andrew Scheer… got a taste of the… world of Britain’s parliament, as he reportedly found himself in the midst of an MP fistfight.
According to British newspapers, Mr. Scheer was part of a Canadian delegation invited to visit Strangers, one of several drinking establishments inside the House of Commons…
There, according to reports, he was one of dozens of visitors who witnessed a startling scene as Eric Joyce, a Labour MP, went on a violent rampage against Tory MPs and was arrested.
Mr. Joyce, the member for Falkirk, reportedly began dancing erratically [and] shouting…
He then head-butted Stuart Andrew, the Tory MP for Pudsey, punched a few more people, and head-butted the MP again…
It took five security officers to calm the over-excited MP, according to the Evening Standard. He was arrested on suspicion of assault and on Thursday morning was suspended from the Labour caucus. The British Speaker of the House, John Bercow, told reporters he would take the incident “very seriously.”
Heavy drinking is considered a serious problem in Britain’s Parliament. There are bars adjoining the Commons and Lords chambers which are packed before and after sittings; it is widely reported that some MPs have numerous drinks before attending sittings – even in the morning. Stories about drunken brawls and misbehaviour among parliamentarians abound…
Two details to note in this BBC report (besides the debate over UK membership in the EU): most government MPs have public jobs besides their Parliamentary posts and the party order on how to vote underlined three times (usually called the three-line whip).
We should note that this issue is one of the things that brought down Margaret Thatcher's government.
The three big parties at Westminster have told their MPs to vote against a motion calling for a referendum to be held on UK membership of the EU…
The BBC's Iain Watson says the government, seeking to find a compromise, had asked MPs seen as usually loyal eurosceptics to table an amendment instead committing the government to producing a white paper on renegotiating the terms or EU membership.
But that request has been refused by the MPs who want the word "referendum" included in any amendment…
The government would not be bound by the result of the vote, based on a motion by Tory MP David Nuttall, but it could prove politically tricky for the Conservative leadership…
Conservative MPs are expected to face a three-line whip - not yet confirmed - which would require any in government jobs to follow the party line and vote against the motion or to resign their posts…
But the UK Independence Party, which campaigns for the UK to leave the EU, said the Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem leaders were "out of step" with the British public.
"By forcing their MPs to vote against an EU referendum, they have set them on a collision course with the electorate. It has become the people versus the politicians," their leader Nigel Farage said.
A petition signed by more than 100,000 people, including Conservative and Labour MPs, calling for a referendum was handed into Downing Street last month...
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