Parliament Tour

Last Monday, I went on a special tour of Parliament and Big Ben. It was led by Richard Lyon-Dalberg-Acton, 4th Baron Acton and his wife, who happens to be our program director. He was a hereditary peer until the House of Lords Act 1999 abolished hereditary peers but was kept on as a life peer. Lord Acton is one of the few with "double peerage" in the House of Lords. At one time, Professor Acton was only one of two American women married to a Lord; the other was Jamie Lee Curtis, who is married to Christopher Guest.

Lord Acton and Professor Acton were a hilarious tour guide duo. He was the comic to her "straight man." He would make comments such as, "Nothing is scarier than an American woman than a small American woman" (when talking about his wife) or "It's quite plain, really" (in reference to the throne in the House of Lords Chamber, seen at right). She would dote on him and remind him what to point out mere moments after he warned us that she was about to do it. It was all too amusing.

We entered the Palace of Westminster through the "Sovereign's Entrance." As the name implies, this is the Queen's entrance when she visits Parliament for the yearly State Opening of Parliament. The security was expectedly tight, though the pat-down was more up close and personal than any I had ever had. We made all the usual stops: the robing room, the two House chambers, etc. We also saw the oldest part of the palace, Westminster Hall, which dates back to 1097!

I cannot possibly recount (nor remember) every interesting anecdote Lord Acton told us, but I found one in particular quite memorable. "The Usher of the Black Rod is a floor officer of the Senate and is responsible for security in the Senate Chamber. The Black Rod also leads the daily Speaker's Parade to and from the Senate Chamber." Every year for the State Opening of Parliament, the Black Rod is sent to summon the House of Commons to the Lords' Chamber for the sovereign's speech. As the Black Rod approaches the Commons, the doors are shut in his face. He then strikes the door three times with the staff. He is asked, "Who's there?" to which he answers, "Black Rod." Only then is he admitted to the chamber to summon to issue the monarch's invitation. Lord Acton showed us the door the Black Rod used to strike before the Commons had its own Chamber.

After the tour, we got to climb Big Ben! To be more accurate, we climbed the Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster and saw Big Ben, the largest bell in the tower. We watched the clock's mechanism, one of the most accurate in the world, as it struck 11:45 AM. Then we climbed up into the clockface to watch/hear the bells actually being struck at noon. We had to be quiet, as it was being broadcast on BBC Radio 4. The view from the bell tower was impressive, but unfortunately I did not have my camera (we were told not to bring them at all).

We ate lunch at The Clarence and then returned to Parliament for the House of Lords "Question Time." As luck would have it, the "Black Rod" gave me our group ticket to the gallery. I saved it for my scrapbook, Mom! After watching the Lord Chancellor's procession into the chamber, we took our seats in the upper gallery. During Question Time, the government (currently Labour) is asked several pre-arranged ("starred") questions. Typically, the government's answer will incite other Lords to jump up (or in the case of the older members, simply rise) to ask further questions on the matter.

But the most exciting part of QT came after the starred questions. To put it briefly, a Lord's question had been rejected by the Leader of the House of Lords, Lady Amos (seen above), because it was not "sufficiently urgent." The question involved the government's plans to make the House of Lords at least partially elected, which is obviously a topic of interest to all the Lords. Lady Amos was quite impressive in explaining her decision, but as Lord Acton told us afterwards, the move was unprecedented.

Following Question Time, we met with Lord Acton and one of his friends, Lord Hunt to discuss current issues in British politics and the pros and cons of their political system. I've been following Tony Blair's recent political struggles (mostly due to education reform and Iraq) in the papers so I found their insight quite interesting.

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Whew! Expect another update tomorrow detailing my weekend trips to Bath and Oxford and offering a preview of my spring break plans!