The British Parliament

1. The British Parliament

2. British Parliament: the ‘mother’ of parliaments • first parliament was held in 1241. • Before, medieval kings - expected to meet all royal expenses from their own revenue, could ask the barons in the Great Council to grant aid in an emergency, such as war. • In the 13th century private revenues and baronial grants - no longer sufficient to meet the expenses of government. • In Simon de Montfort’s ‘Parlement’ of 1265, two knights represented each county for the first time and there were also two representatives of each borough (burgesses). • Edward I was the first to create a representative institution which could provide the money he needed. • In 1275 he commanded each shire and each borough to send two representatives to his Parliament mainly to get their assent to extraordinary taxation - the germ of the House of Commons. • This was the beginning of the idea that there should be “no taxation without representation”

4. A Speaker the first time elected in 1376/ 2006 Lady Hayman becomes thefirst Speaker of the House of Lords • Edward III decided to allot a special chamber to commoners - the Chapter House of Westminster Abbey; later on (1547 to 1834) the Commons were hosted in St Stephen’s Chapel. • the English parliament has almost from its very beginning been bicameral. • The twelfth clause of the Magna Carta provided that financial aid (scutage) – save for the three feudal aids, for knighting the king’s son, for the marriage of his daughter and the ransom of the king himself – should be imposed by the ‘common council of the realm’. The fourteenth clause laid down that this ‘council’ shall consist of the archbishops, bishops, earls and greater barons. • By the middle of the 14th century the formula had appeared which in substance was the same as that used nowadays in voting resources to the Crown, namely “by the Commons with the advice of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal”. • In 1407 Henry IV pledged that all money grants should be approved by the House of Commons before being considered by the Lords. • The constitutional developments of the 17th century led to Parliament securing its position as supreme legislative authority. • In 1832 the relative harmony between the two houses was shattered. The Great Reform Act ended the Lords’ control over the Commons by extending the franchise to the lower middle classes and removing the Lords’ ability to nominate members. • By the mid-19th century “the House could sack Cabinets, remove individual ministers, it could force the government to disclose secret information; it set up select committees to carry out investigations and it rewrote government bills on the floor of the house” (Mackintosh, The British Cabinet, 1977:613). • Conflicting interests were manifested in a series of clashes between the liberal-controlled House of Commons and the Conservative-dominated Lords. • When in 1909 the Liberal Chancellor David George Lloyd declared war on poverty and squalor via a package of tax increases, the Lords threw it out, by 350 votes to 75.

9. The time between two general elections (not exceeding 5 years) also called a Parliament is divided into sessions, each lasting about one year from October or November to the next October/November. • The beginning of a new session is called the State Opening of Parliament beginning with the royal opening procession from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster • The opening ceremony is a mixture of pageantry and serious political business. • As the ceremony is held in the House of Lords, the Commons are summoned to hear 'The Queen's Speech from the Throne', formally opening the next session of the Parliament and setting out the policies of the Government. • It is a long-standing tradition that the monarch never enters the House of Commons. Instead she uses a messenger, The Gentleman Usher or the Black Rod, to summon MP’s (Members of Parliament) to the Lords. • This tradition dates back to 1642. By November 1641 Charles I had been ruling without any Parliament for 11 years.

14. Each Parliament session is interrupted by three recesses: Christmas and Easter, each lasting one month, and the summer recess lasting about 11 weeks from early August to mid- or end-October. • A session of Parliament is ended by means of prorogation (suspension) as opposed to adjourning which means a short interruption and dissolution indicating that new elections will be called. • Prorogation brings to an end nearly all parliamentary business: in particular, public (government) Bills which have not passed by the end of the session are lost. • The average number of sitting days (debates) in a session is about 168 days in the House of Commons and about 150 days in the House of Lords.

15. The House of Lords • officially known under the name “the Lords of Parliament”; • in the 18th and 19th centuries it was still called the First House or Upper House. • The Upper House consists of the Lords Spiritual and the Lords Temporal. • The Lords Temporal consist of all hereditary peers and peeresses of England, Scotland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, of life peers created to assist the House in its judicial duties and the Lords of Appeal or ‘law lords’ - 22 of them, including the Lord Chancellor. The House of Lords, however, lost its judicial functions upon the establishment of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in October 2009. Existing Lords of Appeal in Ordinary will lose their right to speak and vote in the House of Lords until their retirement as Judges of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, and new appointments as Lords of Appeal in Ordinary will become unnecessary and cease. • The House of Lords is also the final court of appeal for civil cases in Britain and for criminal cases in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Although until very recently the House has still been disproportionately hereditary, the life peers tended to play a fuller and more regular part in the proceedings. • Since 1963 it has been possible to disclaim hereditary peerages within 12 months of succession, • The number of Lords used to exceed 1,200, although not all the peers with a right to sit in the House of Lords attend the sittings. • Before 1999 there used to be 750 hereditary peers (61% of the total number of peers). A significant number of hereditary peerages were created during this century, and an important number of them under the premiership of Lloyd George (1916-1922). Some of them however date back to the Middle Ages: the Barony of Mowbray, (1283), the Dukedom of Norfolk and the Earldom of Shrewsbury (1483 and 1442 respectively). • Life peers have been created since 1958, the vast majority of them being distinguished men and women from a wide variety of walks of life who have been so honoured in recognition of their political or public services. However, the largest category of life peers is formed of former politicians from the House of Commons or local government.

16. 1300sWithin 100 years membership becomes almost entirely hereditary.  November 1648Parliament under Oliver Cromwell abolishes the House of Lords along with the monarchy.  1660Parliament is recalled and a new House of Lords created.  1880Lord Cranborne's great-great-grandfather, prime minister Lord Salisbury urges creation of life peers. No action.  1911After battle over Lloyd George's budget, Lords lose power to delay money bills or most bills more than two years. Full reform promised shortly. The 1911 Parliament Act provided the statutory basis for the present limitation of the Lords’ power. The main provisions of this act were that Money Bills were meant to become law within one month of being sent to the Lords; that the legislation delaying prerogative was reduced to two years; and the maximum span of a Parliament should be reduced from seven to five years. 1949Lords block Labour steel nationalisation plans. Delaying power cut to one year.  1958First life peers created by Harold Macmillan. Women peers arrive. Hereditaries stay on.  1968Labour government's ambitious plans to get rid of hereditaries - the ill-fated Parliament Number 2 Bill - involved both a reduction in the total number of peers and an attack upon the hereditary principle. The proposal was for the House to be made up of 250 peers with voting rights who would be appointed by the government of the day, together with a large number of peers who would be entitled to speak but would be barred from voting. It was meant to become a kind of ‘echo chamber for the government’. Also the delaying prerogative was to be halved to six months. The proposals were abandoned by the government in 1969. The plans were scuppered by left-right alliance of Enoch Powell and Michael Foot in the Commons. Mr Powell wanted to keep the existing system; Mr Foot objected to any reform that might save the Lords from abolition. 

17. The Lords Temporal became known as ‘peers’ by the 15th c,i.e. equal among themselves but with five ranks: Duke, Marquess, Earl,Viscount and Baron. Until the suppression of the monasteries in 1539 the Lords Spiritual consistedof bishops, abbots and priors. After 1539, only bishops attendedand the Lords Temporal formed the majority for the first time. The Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 created the judicial functions of the House of Lords in its modern form and enabled the sovereign to create Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (Law Lords) to continue to sit andvote. They were, in effect, the first life peerages.

20. 1977 Lord Carrington, the Conservative leader in the House of Lords proposed the creation of a reformed House of Lords whose members would be elected by proportional representation from large regional constituencies. 1978 Lord Home proposed that the membership of the House be reduced to 400, of whom one-third nominated by political parties and two-thirds elected through proportional representation from about 250 large territorial constituencies. 1997Labour manifesto promises early abolition of hereditary voting rights as part of wider reform.  November 27 1998Lord Cranborne goes behind Mr Hague's back to Downing Street to a clinch deal on Lords reform which shadow colleagues told him not to make. The deal removes most hereditary peers from the Lords but saves places for 92: peers vote to decide who will stay.  December 2 1998Tony Blair turns his back on the idea of a completely elected House of Lords, instead opting for a majority coming from indirect regional elections and a pool of life peers.  January 20 1999Labour publishes a White Paper proposing to abolish 'hereditary peers with no democratic legitimacy', from the House of Lords. This is seen as a first stage on the route to further reform following a general election. A commission, chaired by Lord Wakeham, is set up to propose routes forward.

23. 27 May 1999The Lords agree to the first stage of reform, preventing hereditary peers from sitting and voting in the upper chamber - and ending 700 years of parliamentary tradition November 1 1999A leak from the Wakeham commission on Lords reform reveals that only 100 out of 500 members would be directly elected November 6 1999The names of hereditary peers who will remain - for a while - in the reformed House of Lords is read out.800 years of history ends in 7 minutes. The House of Lords Act 1999 provided for the removal of the sitting and voting rights of the majority of hereditary Peers and established a mechanism for retaining 90 hereditary Peers through a process of election (75 elected by hereditary Peers in their party groups and 15 by the whole House. There are two other hereditary Peers who are the hereditary office holders, the Earl Marshal and the Lord Great Chamberlain. June 7 2001Labour wins the general election with a manifesto promise to complete Lords reform.  November 7 2001Robin Cook, the new leader of the Commons, unveils the final stage of the government's House of Lords reform, to stiff opposition from MPs from all parties. The white paper calls for 20% of peers to be elected by the public and axing 92 hereditary peers. Many claim the recommendations are not comprehensive enough. January 9 2002The government white paper comes under fierce attack in two days of House of Lords debate about constitutional reform. In a poll the British public overwhelmingly said an independent commission rather than the prime minister should make appointments to the upper chamber. January 11 2002A cross-party committee of peers and MPs is set up to consider Labour's white paper for a House on Lords where 20% of members are elected. It is likely they will campaign for a larger elected element. January 13 2002Iain Duncan Smith reveals a plan for a US style senate with 80% of elected peers. Tony Blair denounces the plans as a 'recipe for deadlock'. January 17 2002A survey shows that Labour backbenchers are overwhelmingly in favour of a an upper chamber with more than half of the members elected. January 22 2002The Liberal Democrats match the Conservative's proposals for a largely elected House of Commons and a 12-year term for elected peers in parliament. Iain Duncan Smith unveils his party's policy to an angry collection of Tory peers.

24. Lord Chamberlain's Office St James's Palace, S.W.1. Dear Madam, I am desired by the Lord Chamberlain to inform you that he is prepared to license the play "Lady Chatterley" subject to your undertaking to comply with his requirements noted on the annexed sheet. Where matter is to be substituted for that deleted, it must first be submitted to the Lord Chamberlain, and in any case I am to ask for the submission of the dialogue it is proposed to insert at III-4 Yours faithfully Appendix to letter to Miss Wauna Paul Dated 5 September 1961 "LADY CHATTERLEY" The following is disallowed: Act II-6A. The word ' ..cunt.. ' (twice) The phrases 'It's thee down there. And what I get when I'm inside thee. And what tha gets when I'm inside thee.' Act II-33. The words ' .. Sir John Thomas.' Act II-34. The word ' .. maidenhair ..' Act II-36. The word ' .. fucking ..' Act II-37. The word ' .. fucking ..' (twice) An assurance is required that the stage directions given in the manuscript will be implicitly followed, and notably: • that they will not be exceeded by Connie and Mellors at Act II pages 4–5. • (b) the MS at Act II pages 33–37 speaks of a hayloft and 'we see nothing but straw', with Connie wear ing a slip. In this scene: • (i) no bed either actual or makeshift will be allowed, the only covering being straw. • (ii)Connie must never wear less than the stated slip, which must be opaque, cover her breasts and be of adequate length. (iii)Mellors must be reasonably clothed, at least in pants. • (iv)the action between Connie and Mellors must not exceed that described in the stage directions submitted. None of that was unexpected. But, in fact, John Harte had decided at the outset not to include the infamous four-letter words which, he felt, were not needed. On the contrary, they would be likely to receive unwanted laughter from audiences at the most inappropriate times, which would interrupt the play. Frieda Lawrence had raised no objections to their exclusion. The subject never even arose. But the charade had to be continued with The Lord Chamberlain's Office to ensure that certain incidents onstage would not be banned when the play transferred from The Arts Theatre (technically a membership club) to a public theatre. For example;

25. "Aye!" says Mellors in Act II-26; sitting up, his chest bare. That was not allowed: • "Mellors must wear an upper garment which may be open to his chest." And when Connie puts on her slip over her head: • "Not allowed. Connie must throughout wear an upper garment completely covering her torso." After they made love, Mellors was not allowed to stand by the door in his shirt and bare feet:"Disallowed. Mellors must wear under garments visible below his shirt." When Connie starts to dress, hurriedly pulling on her stockings;"This dressing must not include putting on of drawers, which must be understood to be on throughout." The Assistant Comptroller went to great lengths on 10 October 1961 to ensure by letter that the Lord Chamberlain's wished would be carried out: • "From what I say above" [regarding exposed chests, Connie putting her slip over her head,completely covering her torso, Mellors wearing pants, and Connie getting dressed in classicalArletty form - in her French movies - by pulling on her stockings, and not forgetting to pull onher drawers]; "you will appreciate, and in fact I am to make quite plain to you, that the LordChamberlain will not allow 'Mellors' and 'Connie' to appear to be together under a blanketin a naked condition whether this actually is or is not so. In allowing them to appear on thestage under a blanket the Lord Chamberlain is making a very definite concession, and becauseof this he asks me to give a particular warning that no love making beyond that actually notedin the Stage Directions submitted will be allowed." The official license was signed by "Scarborough, Lord Chamberlain" (otherwise Lawrence Lumley, 11th Earl of Scarborough).

26. January 29 2002Lord Irvine warns that the government's proposal for a 20% elected House of Commons was unlikely to change despite opposition Consultation on Lord Irvine's white paper for reforms in the House of Lords closes. February 14 2002MPs from the three main parties release a committee report urging a 60% elected House of Lords. March 14 2002Mr Cook takes the rare step addressing a meeting of Liberal Democrat MPs to bolster support for a reformed House of Lords. He makes it clear he favours a higher proportion of elected peers than is proposed by Lord Irvine. May 13 2002In joint statement by Lord Irvine in the upper chamber, and Robin Cook in the Commons, the government announces a major retreat from its original white paper in response to the three-month consultation period. A joint committee of the two chambers will decide on the entire powers and structure of the second chamber, with members of both houses allowed a free vote on its proposals. June 19 2002MPs announce the membership of a new committee on the future of the upper house. Allies of the leader of the house, Robin Cook, voice fears that reform of the Lords could be "kicked into the long grass". October 28 2002The Lords reform committee is expected to announce that five options for reform of the upper chamber are to be put to a vote in both houses before Christmas. The options on the percentage of peers to be elected are: 100%; 80%; 60% ;20%; and 0%.  January 7 2003The Lord Chancellor, Derry Irvine, original architect of the government's plans for a 20% elected upper chamber, derides the "nonsense of hybridity" and claims consensus is moving towards having either a fully elected or fully appointed Lords. Robin Cook, the leader of the Commons, hits back that the most important thing is to "make progress" on reform. January 23 2003After a two-day debate on Lords reform, the lord chancellor, Lord Irvine, backs a wholly appointed upper chamber. He says: "An appointed House of Lords, chosen in accordance with criteria that will make it more representative of the nation as a whole, can add real value to the high value of the House of Commons." This contrasts with his position a year earlier, when he called for an appointed house with 120 elected members. 

27. January 29 2003Despite a Labour manifesto commitment to introduce a more democratic second chamber, the prime minister backs a wholly appointed House of Lords. Arguing that a hybrid chamber would fail, Mr Blair tells MPs they would have to choose between a wholly elected or wholly appointed second chamber. "The key question on election is do we want a revising chamber or a rival chamber? My view is that we want a revising chamber," he says. • January 30 2003There is speculation that Robin Cook could resign as the leader of the Commons, following the prime minister's open support for a wholly appointed House of Lords. Mr Cook - one of the strongest supporters of a majority of elected peers - openly scoffs at Mr Blair's idea, telling MPs it was his "own, personal, very humble opinion" that an unelected second chamber would not restore public confidence. • February 4 2003MPs fail to agree a final stage of Lords reform, voting to reject five options in turn, ranging from maintaining the status quo to establishing a fully elected second chamber. May 10 2003The joint committee on Lords reform fails to agreee on the next step, though it declares that the current arrangement, where hereditary peers ("there by accident of birth") sit with those appointed by patronage, has been "universally condemned". The majority of the committee, including its chair, the former Labour cabinet minister, Jack Cunningham, want to see it remain mainly appointed, but by an independent commission not the prime minister. The minority, which includes William Hague and Kenneth Clarke, want the thorniest question tackled - whether peers should be elected, and if so, how. July 16 2003Responding to the report by the joint committee on Lords reform, the government says that there was no consensus in parliament for introducing any elected element into the second chamber. Instead it says it was only interested in removing the remaining 92 hereditary peers and establishing a new independent appointments commission. September 18 2003Britain's first constitutional affairs secretary, and likely last lord chancellor, Lord Falconer, announces government plans to expel the remaining 92 hereditary peers from the upper house "when parliamentary time allows" and strip anyone who has ever committed a criminal offence, including convicted perjurer Lord Archer, of their peerages. A statutory commission, made up of representatives of all three major parties and crossbench peers, is also to be established to select and oversee appointments to the Lords.

28. 21 February 2005 A cross-party group of MPs put forward proposals for reform of the House of Lords, with the aim of re-invigorating the reform process and developing a consensus. Paul Tyler, Kenneth Clarke, Robin Cook, Tony Wright and Sir George Young published Reforming the House of Lords: Breaking the Deadlock, in which they set out the case for a majority of members to be elected. Attached to the report was a draft Bill which would achieve this aim. The cross-party group proposed that the chamber should have up to 385 members in total, 270 of whom should be elected and 87 of whom should be appointed by an independent commission. In addition, the Bishops would hold 16 seats and there would be up to 12 places for prime ministerial appointees. Thus, elected members would constitute 70–72 per cent of the total, and independently appointed members roughly 23 per cent. A debate in Westminster Hall on 23 February focused to a great extent on the group’s proposals (HC Hansard, cols. 71–95WH). 24 March 11 July 2006 The Leader of the House of Commons, Jack Straw, delivered a speech to the Hansard Society in which he stressed his commitment to achieving consensus on how a reformed House of Lords might look, suggesting that it should be possible to build consensus around the idea of a 50 per cent elected, 50 per cent appointed House of Lords. Jack Straw argued that:…Reform of the Second Chamber is inextricably linked to the debate about the reform of Parliament. Much has been achieved here in recent years—the election last week of Baroness Hayman as its first Speaker is evidence of that— but there is much to be done. I will be working with colleagues on all sides of both Houses over the coming months as part of an intensive effort to reach consensus on how a future Upper Chamber may look. I think a consensus is achievable and I believe this: if we do not seize the opportunity before us now, I fear that reform will be placed on the backburner for decades to come. My sense is that we should be able to build consensus around the idea of a House which is split 50% elected and 50% appointed, phased in over a long period, perhaps as long as 12 or 15 years. Crucially the shift must be one which leads to a House which does not threaten the primacy of the Commons, but which is more representative of the society we live in today. 2005 Constitutional Reform Act removes the Law Lords and sets up a new, independentsupreme court (from October 2009). It also changes the role of the Lord Chancellor, ending his role as a judge and as Speaker of the House of Lords.

30. 7 February 2007 The Government published its White Paper, The House of Lords: Reform (Cm 7027). June 2007 Gordon Brown became Prime Minister. 3 July 2007 The Government published a wide ranging Green Paper on constitutional reform, The Governance of Britain (Cm 7170). Statements were heard in both Houses. The Government’s Green Paper included the following section on Lords reform in which it stated that it was committed to enacting the will of the House of Commons as expressed in the recent votes, and that cross-party discussions, still to be led by Jack Straw in his new role as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, would continue to such ends: In 1999 the Government enacted a historic and long overdue reform to Parliament’s second chamber.

33. 216 Labour peers (212 life + 4 hereditary) • 197 Conservative peers (149 + 48 hereditary) • 72 Lib dem (67 + 5) • 2 UKIP (1+1) • 205 Crossbenchers (172+33) • 26 Lords Spiritual • Total over 700 The 92 elected hereditary peers are made up as follows: ● 15 ‘office-holders’, i.e. Deputy Speakers and Deputy Chairmen, elected by theHouse; ● 75 party and Crossbench Members, elected by their own party or group; ● two who hold royal appointments—the Lord Great Chamberlain, who is theQueen’s representative in Parliament, and the Earl Marshal, who is responsiblefor ceremonies such as the State Opening of Parliament.

34. From May 2000 the public has been allowed to nominate anyone of their choosing, or put themselves forward, for a non-party political appointment to the House of Lords. These nominated Peers are often known as the People's Peers. The House of Lords Appointments Commission considers nominations and recommends the most appropriate individuals to the Queen. The first appointments were announced in April 2001 and there have been 47 to date. • Appointments Commission The Government announced its intention to establish the Appointments Commission in its White PaperModernising Parliament; Reforming the House of Lords (January 1999). The Appointments Commission, set up in May 2000, is a non-statutory non-departmental advisory public body. It has two main functions: to make recommendations to the Queen for non-political peers and to vet for propriety all nominations for peerages, including those from political parties. The Commission began its search for new Members on 13 September 2000 and announced its first list of 15 non-party political Members in April 2001. As early as March 1998, the press had anticipated that these Members would be different from the usual honours lists and more representative of society at large, and dubbed them ‘Peoples’ Peers’. The Appointments Commission is an independent body and is not part of the House of Lords

35. The Functions of the House of Lords • The Lords have the power to examine and revise all government bills, but they cannot amend or reject Money Bills. Every bill must pass both houses, but the Lords’ power has been restricted by the Parliamentary Acts of 1911 and 1949. • The functions of the House of Lords are mainly: legislative delay -they can delay for about one year the passage of Bills approved by the Commons; the power of legislative revision and the power of well-informeddeliberation . • There is only one special power of absolute veto, if the House of Commons should pass a bill to extend its own life, without a new general election beyond five years from the previous general election. • The supporters of the Upper House often claim that the Lords provide a useful second opinion on legislation; amendments can be suggested and newopinions expressed. They have more time than the Commons, so they can discussa bill in far greater detail. • By introducing non-controversial legislation, particularly in connection with local government, the Lords relieve the burden on the overworked Commons. The Lords revise and improve bills on their way to the Royal Assent, and the government often uses this stage to introduce its own amendments and improvements. • Its judicial function is important as it is the highest court in the land, a function which is performed by the law lords including the Lord Chancellor, ex-Lord Chancellors and Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (including those retired). They do not pass judgement; rather they clarify the law and give opinions on appeals. • The House of Lords Select Committee on the European Community matches that of the House of Commons. Both of these committees are constantly involved in the scrutiny of the European Commission proposals received by Parliament. Sixty to seventy peers are involved in its subcommittees and its reports are widely read and are very influential.

38. The Office of the LORD CHANCELLOR Member of both the Cabinet and the Privy Council Formerly he was also the presiding officer of the House of Lords, and the head of the Judiciary in England and Wales, but the Constitutional Reform Act of 2005 transferred these roles to the Lord Speaker and the Lord Chief Justice respectively. The present Lord Chancellor, The Rt.Hon. Jack Straw, is also Secretary of State for Justice, and the first Lord Chancellor since the seventeenth century not to be a peer. The Lord Chancellor’s Department became The Department for Consitutional Affairs in 2003 and again in 2007 Ministry of Justice. Until 2007 the last Lord Cancellor Lord Falconer served as State Secretary for Constitutional Affairs. The Lord Chancellor is also the Keeper of the Queen's Conscience. As Keeper of the Queen's Conscience, the Lord Chancellor was once also the chief judge of the Court of Chancery in London, dispensing equity to soften the harshness of the law. The importance of the office is reflected by the Treason Act 1351, which makes it high treason to slay the Lord Chancellor.

39. it infringed on the idea of trias politica • In 2003, Tony Blair chose Lord Falconer to be Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs. At the same time, he announced his intention to abolish the office of Lord Chancellor and to make many other constitutional reforms. After much surprise and confusion, it became clear that the ancient office of Lord Chancellor could not be abolished without an Act of Parliament. Lord Falconer duly appeared in the House of Lords to preside from the Woolsack on the next day. • The Lord Chancellor's Department, however, was renamed the Department for Constitutional Affairs. The Government introduced the Constitutional Reform Bill in the House of Lords in February 2004. The Bill sought to abolish the office of Lord Chancellor, and to transfer his functions to other officials: legislative functions to a Speaker of the House of Lords, executive functions to the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and judicial functions to the Lord Chief Justice. • However the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs retained his place as a member of the Cabinet and certain special statutory functions. • Jack Straw, an MP, was appointed as Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, thus becoming the first Lord Chancellor in history who is a member of the House of Commons, rather than the House of Lords or its predecessor, the Curia Regis.

43. Leader of the House of Lords • The Leader of the House of Lords is a government minister and member of the Cabinet. The office is responsible for the organisation of government business in the House of Lords, and offering advice on matters of House procedure (the formal and informal rules of its everyday activities). The current Leader of the House of Lords is Baroness Royall of Blaisdon since Oct 2008 and she was preceded by Baroness Ashton of Upholland. • As with all past Leaders, the Prime Minister appointed them to this position. The Leader expresses the collective feelings of the House on formal occasions, such as motions of thanks or congratulations. The Leader is also available to assist and advise all Lords. • Royall was a special adviser to Neil Kinnock, the Leader of the Labour Party, in the 1980s. • On 25 June 2004 she was created Baroness Royall, of Blaisdon in the County of Gloucestershire. In the House of Lords, Lady Royall of Blaisdon became a Government whip, as well as being Government Spokesperson for Health, for International Development and for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. She took on her role of Government Chief Whip following the resignation of Lord Grocott on 24 January 2008, and was created a Privy Councillor in the same year. On 3 October 2008, Baroness Royall was promoted to the Cabinet and made Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

45. LORD SPEAKER • Helene Valerie Hayman, Baroness Hayman, is Lord Speaker of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom. • As a member of the Labour Party she was a Member of Parliament from 1974 to 1979, and became a Life Peer in 1996. Outside politics, she has been involved in health issues, serving on medical ethics committees and the governing bodies in the National Health Service and health charities. In 2006, she won the initial election for the newly created position of Lord Speaker. • On her election to the House of Commons, she was its youngest member, remaining the "Baby of the House" until 1977. • She was the first woman to breastfeed at Westminster. • She was made a Life Peer in 1996, and took the title Baroness Hayman. After the Labour Party won the 1997 general election, she served as a junior minister in the Department for Environment, Transport and the Regions and the Department of Health, before being appointed as Minister of State at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in July 1999. She became a member of the Privy Council in 2001