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The UK Parliament was prorogued early Thursday afternoon, April 28, 2022.
The new session will begin on Tuesday, May 10, with the Queen’s Speech. One wonders if she will be there in person or delegate Prince Charles to deliver it for her.
We will have one news story to watch, however, besides local elections on Thursday, May 5. Durham Constabulary is said to be reconsidering re-examining their decision not to investigate Keir Starmer, who appeared indoors at the Labour offices at the end of April 2021 after election campaigning, when indoor election meetings were forbidden because of coronavirus.
This decision by the Durham Constabulary is in response to Conservative Red Wall MP Richard Holden’s letter to the Chief Constable about the matter. Holden represents Durham North.
On Wednesday, April 26, Guido Fawkes tweeted about the re-examination and someone helpfully posted a video of Starmer, MP Mary Foy and other Labourites enjoying beer one evening:
And there’s this further down in response to Guido’s tweet about Starmer, whom his detractors call Keith rather than Keir, for whatever reason:
The letter from Durham Constabulary to Richard Holden is below. Based on the wording, one wonders exactly how much will be reconsidered:
If it weren’t for Guido and Holden, this issue probably would have never resurfaced.
Guido has a great GIF compilation of Starmer on the campaign trail. It alleges that he might have committed as many as seven violations of the campaign restrictions last year. The second tweet features Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner MP. Hmm:
Twitter has a new trending topic, #durhampartygate :
Here is a selection of tweets on #durhampartygate :
In other Labour MP news, Liam Byrne has been suspended for two days, meaning he will lose pay for those days:
Now onto the prorogation. Thanks to Boris Johnson’s premiership, I have seen three since 2019:
The order paper for the House of Commons was brief, in expectation of a Royal Commission, whereby Black Rod would officially summon the Commons to go to the House of Lords. All of that takes place in rather elegant language:
The mood around 11:30 a.m. was light, almost festive. Even the Speaker of the House, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, fluffed his lines:
One part of the proceedings is spoken in Norman French: ‘La Reyne le veult’, or ‘The Queen wills it’. This tweet shows the five most senior Lords entering their chamber in formal robes:
Until 1967, every time a law was passed, proceedings in the Lords were briefly suspended to allow for an announcement of new legislation, followed by ‘La Reyne le veult’:
Since 1967, a simple announcement has been made to the Lords of Royal Assent to new legislation:
The King or Queen used to preside over prorogations in person. Queen Victoria was the last monarch to do so. That was in 1854:
You can see Black Rod coming in to summon the Commons at 12:27 p.m. on this video. The prorogation in the Lords starts at 12:30 p.m. on this video. Afterwards, MPs return to the Commons. Go back to the first video to find the Commons Speaker confirm to MPs what was read out in the Lords, even though they had heard everything there themselves minutes earlier. When he finishes, he instructs MPs to leave the chamber:
True. It finished at 12:52 p.m.
The Lords’ business was thin on the ground. Their session began at 11:07 a.m.:
This thread summarises a prorogation:
In a time of emergency, the monarch can recall Parliament during prorogation.
It’s a highly formal ceremony and well worth watching.
Now on to the May 5 council and Northern Ireland Assembly elections, which should be interesting.
Churchmouse Campanologist 