Father of the House
The Father of the House is an honorary title for the longest serving member of the House of Commons, first mentioned in England in 1654, but since 1779 at the latest in Great Britain . In June 2017, the title Mother of the House was also introduced. Similar titles are common in other English-speaking countries such as New Zealand and Australia . The function is partly comparable to that of the German senior president , but not identical.
definition
According to the unwritten laws of tradition, the oldest member of the lower house after years of service is entitled to the honorary title of Father of the House . If several Members of Parliament have the same length of service, the first to be sworn in among them according to the minutes of the meeting, the volumes of which are known in Great Britain as Hansard , will be appointed. Nevertheless, in the past there were always different opinions as to whether the title should be given to the oldest member of parliament by age, the one who has been in office the longest, or the one who has been sworn in as a member of parliament the farthest back.
Functions
The only official function of the Father of the House is to preside over the election of the speaker of parliament, usually at the beginning of a legislative period , whereby the speaker has essentially similar, but not the same, tasks as the President of the Bundestag . The chairing of the session of the Fathers of the House in the speaker election has only been customary since 1972 and was then taken over on the model of the French National Assembly, where the oldest member by age opens the first session after the election, similar to the German Bundestag .
The Father of the House is also entitled to attend ceremonial events in Parliament in a prominent position.
history
The title as such is mentioned for the first time as early as 1654, although it is completely unclear what was meant by it at the time. Benjamin Bathurst, who was a member of the House of Commons from 1713 to 1767, was referred to by his descendants as the Father of the House . The term found use in the press from 1779, when Collins' peerage granted the title to Nicholas Herbert, who had held office for 35 years at the time. In 1788 Gentleman´s Magazine honored Thomas Noel with the title, a politician who sat in the House of Commons for sixty years with a twelve-year break, but rarely showed himself there and hardly ever spoke. In 1813, Whitshed Keene is referred to as Father of the House in an article in the Literary Panorama , as well as in an engraving from 1816 showing his portrait , and is appropriately appreciated in the obituaries of him that appeared in 1822. The politician with Irish roots was a member of parliament for fifty years, from 1768 to 1818, initially for the constituency of Wareham in southern England. From May 1907 until his death in April 1908, the liberal Henry Campbell-Bannerman was the only politician to date to be Prime Minister and Father of the House at the same time . He had been a member of parliament for around forty years.
From February 2017 to December 2019 was in the tradition of Gerald Kaufman the Labor MP for the constituency, Manchester Gorton, formerly conservative and then independent Kenneth Clarke current title holder, the constituency since 1970 Rushcliffe south of Nottingham represented and was several times minister. The Labor -Abgeordnete Dennis Skinner , who also since 1970 for the constituency of Bolsover in Derbyshire sat in the House of Commons, was sworn in in order to Clarke.
Since the 2019 election , Conservative MP Sir Peter Bottomley has been the Father of the House. He has been in the British House of Commons continuously since 1975. Kenneth Clarke was no longer running in the election, Dennis Skinner lost his seat to the Conservatives.
On June 13, 2017, Prime Minister Theresa May created the title Mother of the House , which is currently held by Labor politician Harriet Harman, who has represented the constituency of Camberwell and Peckham since 1982 .
Trivia
In the British House of Commons, there is only one really comfortable seat besides the green leather-covered benches, which, according to legend, was furnished for MP Tam Dalyell , a former Labor politician and Father of the House , who with his sprawling and time-consuming questions about immersion of the Argentine warship Belgrano put Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher under pressure in the Falklands War .
A Baby of the House has also been proclaimed in the British press , which is the youngest member of parliament. Since the election in December 2019, the then 23-year-old Nadia Whittome from the Labor Party, which represents the constituency of Nottingham East and made a name for herself as a left-wing politician for Britain's remaining in the EU, before joining parliament.
literature
- Kim E. Beazley: Father of the House: The Memoirs of Kim E. Beazley , Fremantle 2009
- Imogen Groome: What does Father of the House of Commons mean and who is the new one? in: Metro , February 27, 2017 [5]
- John Parker: Father of the House: Fifty Years in Politics , Abingdon 1982
Individual evidence
- ↑ Paul Seaward: The Origins of a Father of the House [1] accessed October 23, 2019
- ↑ Paul Seaward: The Origins of a Father of the House [2] accessed October 23, 2019
- ↑ Paul Seaward: The Origins of a Father of the House [3] accessed on October 23, 2019
- ↑ The Literary Panorama , Volume 12, Col. 1079
- ^ The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle, for the Year 1822 , Volume 92, p. 278
- ↑ Tolhurst, Alain: ELECTION 2019: All the big names who lost their seats as Boris Johnson sweeps to victory. PoliticsHome, December 13, 2019, accessed December 13, 2019 .
- ↑ Emma Crewe: The House of Commons: An Anthropology of MPs at Work , London 2015, p. 43
- ↑ Gaby Hinsliff: Nadia Whittome, Britain's youngest MP, on race, Rees-Mogg - and taking a massive pay cut [4], accessed on January 24, 2020