THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT

A SHORT HISTORY
The history of the British Parliament (the Mother of Parliaments) is very long and complicated and only a brief overview can be given here. In addition, the structure is complex. For example Scotland has its own Parliament for some things and for others is under that of the United Kingdom. (A good place to start a search for more detailed information is at www.wikipedia.org/

The roots of the Parliament have been traced to the Anglo-Saxon witan or king's council. The Norman, William the Conqueror, had a King's Great Council consisting of nobles and churchmen. In later years members of the Council were to challenge the continental idea of the Divine Right of Kings and constitutional government was born. In 1215, with the Magna Carta, King John was forced by the nobles to seek the permission of the Council before levying any taxes, and fifty years later, Under Edward I, the so-called Model Parliament, the first to have elected members was formed. It included commoners, representatives of the shires (counties) chosen by those who owned a certain amount of land. Under Edward III (r. 1327-1377), the Parliament was split into the present two Houses, both of which were involved in making laws and levying taxes, and both had to approve all measures,

Over the next few centuries, the relative power of the two houses shifted back and forth. At first the House of Lords was dominant, but its membership was decimated by death during the War of the Roses. The estates of those killed went to the Crown, and by the reign of Henry VIII (when the term, House of Lords was first used), the King had regained absolute power and the Parliament almost never met. In the seventeenth century, the struggle between the House of Commons and the Crown led to the execution of King Charles I, the start of the Civil War, and the abolition of the House of Lords. However, during the Restoration of Charles II, the House of Lords returned and soon became dominant once more.

At the time of George III, the monarch still had considerable power. (His Parliament formed the model for the United States Congress.) He appointed many new peers to allow his favorite prime ministers to maintain control of the House. (Equivalent to an American president appointing additional members of his party to the Senate.) This may be why Mountararat speaks so fondly of ‘King George's glorious days'.

THE HOUSE OF LORDS
By the time of Iolanthe, the House of Lords had lost much of its power. The members consisted of the Lords Temporal most of whom were hereditary peers whose only qualification was to be born. There were a few Life Peers, those appointed because of some special merit or skill, for example lawyers and judges to carry out the judicial functions of the House. Their titles could not be inherited. As of 1869 it had been established that there could still be only be twenty-eight life peers, so of the several hundred hereditary peers in the House of Lords in 1882 many would indeed fit the Mountararat's claim that they "made no pretense to intellectual eminence".

While there were attempts in the nineteenth century to abolish the House of Lords, it wasn't until the Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949 that its powers were severely curtailed. Today it can not even discuss financial matters let alone have input into such legislation, and it can not veto bills passed by the House of Commons, only delay them for a matter of months.

The House of Lords is still the United Kingdom's highest court and the final court of appeals for some countries in the Commonwealth. However, cases are not heard by the whole House but by a committee chosen from those with experience as judges called "Law Lords". A new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom has been created but is not yet fully functional. In theory the whole House sits for an impeachment trial but the last one was in 1806.

One of the features of the House of Lords is the woolsack a large red cushion formerly occupied by the Lord Chancellor and now by the Speaker. When England's economy depended on its wool trade, it was stuffed with English wool; it is now stuffed with wool from all countries of the Commonwealth. The Mace is placed behind it. There is a larger Judges woolsack, placed between the Lord Chancellor's and the throne, and occupied by the Law Lords during the opening of Parliament.

In 2005 the Constitutional Reform Act restructured the House and it is now in many ways unrecognisable from that of Gilbert's time. For one thing, until July 2006, it was presided over by the Lord Chancellor (a cabinet member) but in May of that year a new position, the Speaker, took over his duties. Hélène Valerie Hayman, Baroness Hayman, who had become a life peer in 1996 resigned her party membership when elected to this post. She has a salary of £101,000 a year, an apartment and a gold and silk robe but, unlike her predecessor, does not wear a wig. (Picture)

As of this writing. The House of Lords has 751 members, 26 Lords Spiritual and 725 Lords Temporal (633 Life Peers + 92 Hereditary Peers). The Lords Spiritual are not peers; they are the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and twenty-four others. Most are bishops, but Margaret Thatcher appointed the Chief Rabbi as one. There are also church leaders of denominations other than the Church of England who are Lords Temporal. The Lords Spiritual serve in the House only while in office, but the two Archbishops are usually offered life peerages on retirement.

In 1999, the House of Lords Act removed the automatic right of hereditary Peers to sit in the House and at present only ninety-two of the Lords Temporal are hereditary peers: The Great Lord Chamberlain, the Earl Marshall and ninety others who are elected by the other peers. There continue to be proposals to remove all hereditary peers or else have most of them directly elected by the people. Life peers serve in the House for life.

All of the Lords Temporal are allowed to be partisan or non-partisan. They are not paid but have expense allowances. Many continue to be created; Tony Blair has created over 350 in nine years, Margaret Thatcher made 200 in eleven years. (Technically they are created by the Sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister, and some attempt is made to insure political balance. That is, not all are from the Prime Minister's party.)

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS
Today, the real power in Britain rests in the Prime Minister and the House of Commons. The Queen has ceremonial roles but is essentially a figurehead. It's as though the United States were governed by the House of Representatives and its leader, and neither the Senate nor the President had any real power.

In Gilbert's time the two main parties were the Conservative (Tories) and the Liberal (Whigs). There is still a Liberal party, but it is small by comparison with the Labour Party heated by the present Prime Minister Tony Blair. Members represent boroughs, comparable to American election districts. In the early nineteenth century there were still some ‘pocket' or ‘rotten' boroughs. The Queen in Iolanthe has a few in her pocket. Since boroughs were originally distributed by land area, with the growth of cities gross inequities occurred. For example the hamlet of Old Sarum had two representatives for about ten people while the entire great city of Manchester had none. Most of these boroughs were controlled by peers who, before the day of the secret ballot, could force inhabitants to vote as they dictated. Peers often ‘gave' seats in Commons to their sons and thus had influence in both Houses. The Reform Act of 1832 disenfranchised fifty-six of these boroughs and all were abolished by 1867.

During sessions in the House of Commons, the parties face each other across an aisle marked with red stripes two sword-lengths plus one foot apart. It is said this was instituted to prevent duels but that may be apocryphal. (Picture) The chamber is small, with seats for only two-thirds of the 646 members. It was designed in the days before amplification and made small so that all could hear the debates. The Speaker sits at one end. The monarch never enters the House of Commons; the last to do so was Charles I, and he came to a bad end when he was beheaded by the Parliamentary forces.

The Prime Minister is elected to one of the seats in the House of Commons by the people in the borough he (or she) represents. He is then chosen by the members of his party within the house. His Cabinet is made up of the Leader of the House of Lords, the Lord Chancellor, and his ministers (all of whom are members of the House of Commons) appointed to their positions by the Queen on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. It is as though all the members of the Cabinet of the President of the United States were sat in the House of Representatives.

When a vote is to be taken there is a division. A bell sound, the members take their seats. The doors are locked, and they then divide and file through special doors on either side of chamber which lead to lobbies, one for Ayes and one for Nays. There they are counted. Those abstaining, stay in the chamber.

THE PALACE OF WESTMINSTER (The site of Act II of Iolanthe)
Westminster is the name of a borough in Greater London* and of a city within it. The borough includes other communities as diverse as Knightsbridge, Covent Garden, Paddington, Mayfair and Hyde Park.

There was a Palace at Westminster long before there was a Parliament. It was the principal residence of the monarch until the early sixteenth century (during the reign of Henry VIII). At that time, the Lords met in the Palace but the Commons used other quarters The Palace burned down in 1834 and the present magnificent buildings were erected within the short space of a few decades. For centuries the Lord Chancellor had control over the facilities but this function passed to the two Houses in 1965. Each House has its own library. The defining landmark of the complex is the clock tower which houses Big Ben. Contrary to what many think, Big Ben is neither the tower nor the clock, but the over thirteen-ton bell which is housed there and which tolls the hours.

*The metropolitan area now known as London is a conglomerate of many communities including two cities, the City of London and the City of Westminster. (In England, a be a city, there must be a Cathedral within it; it has nothing to do with size. Westminster Abbey is in the City of Westminster and St. Paul's in the City of London.) The City of London is an area of only about one square mile and is the financial capital of the United Kingdom. Very few people live there.

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Revised January 2007
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