Standing room only at Westminster

I stood for Parliament last year along with around a dozen other SHP candidates and, remarkably, we all got in, albeit via an extremely impressive state of the art electronic screening system under the supervision of some of London’s largest policemen.

Mind you, once in, there was no lolling around on the comfy green benches of the House of Commons, baying at the rabble opposite, or relaxing on the even more sumptuous red benches reserved for those of noble birth (or more recently anybody whom the Head Prefect of the day deems worthy of ennoblement and, perhaps more to the point, who might be able to do them a favour in return sometime in the future).

In fact we didn’t take our seats anywhere – not for the whole two and a half hours we were there. You see sitting is not for the likes of us ordinary, decent, taxpaying, non-expense fiddling honest souls. Rather, it is for those chosen by a trusting electorate and who are seen as up to the Herculean task of dragging this great nation of ours from one self-made crisis to another, without ever loosing their nerve or giving a straight answer to anything.

However, whilst we may not have been permitted to sit in either Chamber at any time, neither MPs nor Lords are permitted to stand in their respective Houses without the permission of the Speaker.

Not that we saw any members of either house, except for one Lord who was showing another group around Parliament, presumably to earn a bit on the side since members of the upper house don’t get paid. No, the usual incumbents were off at the annual jamborees boasting about their achievements and making inevitably soon to be broken promises about our future governance.

But putting cynicism aside, it is a privilege to have strolled through this beautiful and immensely impressive place, where from time to time for over the past 1000 years decisions have been taken that have quite literally, shaped the course of world history.

All of us are grateful to the Camden MP and socialist stalwart Frank Dobson for sponsoring the SHP visit, and to our personal guide, Roger King, whose many delightful anecdotes put flesh on the dry bones of our colourful and sometimes violent constitutional history.


R.A.E.