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Parliament facts

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Parliament facts

Parliament facts

  • The Houses of Parliament were almost completely destroyed by a fire in 1834. The building we know today, despite looking pretty ancient, was completed as relatively recently as 1870. That said, the oldest surviving bit – Westminster Hall – dates back to 1097.

  • Big Ben is the name of the bell, not the clock tower – which is simply called the Clock Tower. And if you want to get technical, the bell is properly called the Great Bell. Big Ben is just a long-standing nickname whose origins remain unclear.

  • The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the only MP who is allowed to drink booze in the House of Commons, and then only during his Budget speech. Churchill liked a brandy while giving his speech, while Ken Clarke preferred whisky. Gordon Brown, being a prudent chap, went against tradition and had Scottish spring water instead.

  • The two wooden boxes that politicians lean on when they clash in the House of Commons are called dispatch boxes. They were gifts from New Zealand after World War Two. The one on the Government's side contains holy books such as the Bible and Koran, while the one on the Opposition's side contains a Bible that was burnt during a bomb attack on the Commons during World War Two.

  • When the Queen leaves Buckingham Palace to attend the State Opening of Parliament every year, an MP is ceremonially "held hostage" at the Palace to ensure that the monarch isn't kidnapped or executed by any treasonous MPs.

  • The Gunpowder Plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605 was planned by a chap called Robert Catesby. Guy Fawkes was merely a low-level conspirator put in charge of stashing the explosives in the Parliament cellar. To this day, the Yeomen of the Guard undertake a ceremonial search beneath the House of Lords before the State Opening every year – although the actual cellar used in the Gunpowder Plot no longer exists.
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