On the tenth day of March we took a tour of the Houses of Parliament, followed by a most impressive sitting in on Prime Minister's Question Time. We were guests of Alan Duncan MP (Member of Parliament), Junior Shadow Minister for Health and Social Security, and his assistant Claire Gageaux.
William Stocks and Robert Jones guided us on our introductory tour of the Royal Palace at Westminster. The palace served as residence for the monarchy from the time of its construction just after the Norman invasion of 1066 until the fire of 1512, which destroyed significant portions of the building; Westminster Hall is the only remaining part of the original structure to survive. Beginning under the immense Victoria Tower, we then moved inside to the Norman Porch.
Victoria Tower serves as the oversized filing cabinet for millions of parliamentary documents, and it is the arrival point of Her Royal Highness upon her annual address to Parliament. The Queen would, as we did, proceed up the steps into and through the Norman Porch, ornamented by the busts of sixteen former Lords. From there, we advanced into the Queen's Robing Room. This room is highlighted by frescos depicting the Seven Virtues, save Fidelity and Courage, who are represented by paintings of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria. The first five feature the fabled King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. We then moved to the Royal Gallery, one of the largest rooms of Parliament. It houses documents that range from messages from kings to their councillors to a copy of the original death warrant for Charles I. The room is also accented by huge wall-sized frescos by Daniel Maclise, the basis for one of Parliament's greatest minor embarrassments.
In 1984 the French President paid a visit to give a speech. Normally, the frescos, which picture the Battles of Trafalgar and Waterloo (two decisive battles of the Napoleonic Wars, Trafalgar being Britain's greatest naval victory and Waterloo its greatest land victory over the French), would be covered with a white curtain in order to avoid any unease on the French President's part. There are always exceptions. The paintings were left uncovered. And the President's speech was in French.
We then toured the House of Lords, decorated in red and gold. On a side note, it must be mentioned that the House of Lords' color is red, signifying wealth, while the House of Commons is marked by green carpeting and upholstered leather in order with the common people. Royal sovereign coloring is blue. Since our guide William Stocks was being a doorman of the House of Lords, the majority of our information pertaained to the House of Lords for more greatly than it did the House of Commons. The House of Lords consists of approximately 1200 lords and is boasted to be one of the most efficient and least expensive second chambers in the world.
We met with an MP, Simon Burns, who gave us introductory talks on current constitutional issues, especially regarding the House of Lords. Mister Burns is a member for Chelmsford and Shadow Minister for the Environment. We also had a brief question and answer session regarding Parliament, its two houses, committees, and the order of government with Doctor Paul Seaward, a clerk (pronounced, 'clark,' just as strangely as countless other English words). Dr. Seaward is an expert on government procedure, an advisor to MPs, and a keeper of official records. We extend many thanks to these men for their aid in our visit.
At roughly 3:15pm six members of our group, Denise, Will, Ethan, Josh, Kyle, and I, took our seats in the Western Gallery of the House of Commons chamber to witness the Prime Minister's Question Time at 3:30, when the Prime Minister is grilled by members for half an hour. Tony Blair, the current British Prime Minister, has taken pleasure in Questions since his engagement of the position of Prime Minister on 1 May 1997. Wednesday's session was an excellent opportunity for us to experience the most exciting political bout of the parliamentary calendar.
It began with budget concerns from the Opposition leader, William Hague. Repeatedly Hague asked Blair of the specific tax increase for the Tuesday-announced budget. Blair would explain the tax cut of over £4.5 Million. Again Hague fired back opposition, demanding that Blair explain a tax increase upwards of £10 Million. Blair responded with his original statement, and this continued for a good five minutes. The thirty-minute assembly dealt largely with matters of the new budget, including the current and future state of the Scottish education system. Reinforcing his point on the topic, Blair continually stated that "families and pensioners are better off" because of the new budget.
Despite the occasionally heated debating between the Prime Minister and members of the Opposition, gentlemanly values were never overlooked, and responses to questions or conflicting ideals were always begun politely and completely matter-of-factly. "What the Right Honourable Gentleman [fails to recognise] is that he is simply wrong on the issue," Blair said to Hague at several points. As the clock read 3:30, the Speaker of the House demanded order and drew the week's questions to a close.