|
|
| | Shona's Political Trivia |  |
|
 I say aye and nay? |
Rather than abstaining, a British MP in the House of Commons can vote both for and against a motion at the same time. ...
|
| Leading loony |
The former leader of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, the late Screaming Lord Sutch, simultaneously stood against all three main party leaders...
|
| Leading lights |
From 1922 until 1997, all leaders of the Tory Party became Prime Minister – Andrew Bonar Law, Stanley Baldwin, Neville Chamberlain, Sir W...
|
| First among equals? |
Up to 1922, there was no official leader of the Conservative Party as both the Leader of the House of Commons and the Leader of the House of Lor...
|
| Take me to your leader |
With all the talk about the Labour leadership, visitors to the site have suggested some leadership trivia. More than happy to oblige. Leaders of the L...
|
| In a spin |
The term 'spin doctor' derives from the game of baseball and was probably first used poltically by American president and former actor, Ron...
|
| Birds of a feather |
The Palace of Westminster has a pigeon problem - their droppings play havoc with all that guilding apparently. The solution? Birds of prey are brought...
|
| The white stuff |
The numeral on the door of the 10 Downing Street is...white. The door itself is painted black. ...
|
| Through the key hole |
The door to Number 10 Downing Street has no key hole - it can be opened only from the inside. And what is the colour of the number 10 on the door? Thi...
|
| All White |
The White House was first painted white in 1814 after restoration following smoke damage caused by fires set by...the British! ...
|
| Speak First |
July 2008 marks the 25th anniversary of both Tony Blair's and Gordon Brown's maiden speeches in the House of Commons - 6 July and 27 July 1983 respect...
|
| Fancy a hug Mr President? |
The 18th President of the USA, Ulysses S Grant, was born Hiram Ulysses Grant. He changed his name at the age of 17 when he went to Westpoint Military ...
|
| Little and Large |
The constituency with the most electors is the Isle of Wight with almost 110,000 people registered to vote. The constituency with the smallest number ...
|
| Hats off to them |
It's possible for MPs to raise a point of order (speak) during a division (vote), although an MP wanting to do so must be given permission by th...
|
| Held to account |
What do Edward Pleydell Bouverie, William Pollard Urquhart, George Sclater-Booth, Ughtred Kay-Shuttleworth and Osbert Peake have in common? All the...
|
| Winnng women |
Women aged over 30 won the right to vote in 1918, but it wasn’t until 1928 that the voting age for women was lowered to 21 years of age – the same...
|
| Changed days... |
New PM, GB has decided to change Cabinet meetings from Thursday to Tuesday. Some people claim to be horrified at this apparent break with centuries-ol...
|
| A treat of a treaty |
With all the talk of the EU treaty, did you know that Grimsby (which included Cleethorpes at the time) used to have a French MP? Paris-based Henr...
|
| PMQs |
Prime Minister's Question Time was first introduced in 1961 when Harold Macmillan was Prime Minister. Until 1997, there were two 15-minute PMQ...
|
| Happy New Year |
AS THE PARTYING gets underway on New Year's Eve, two MPs will be having a double celebration - Scottish Nationalist, Alex Salmond, and Conservative...
|
|
|
