Ticketmaster was clever enough to have brought the tour of
the Westminster Parliament to my attention when I went browsing their site for
random stuff to do. After 9+ years residency in the country, it was only right
for me to check out the story behind the seat of power. Since my visit to the
German Budestag parliament trip, have caught the bug to try more.
In a nutshell, will recommend that everyone attempt to visit
British parliament (aka Westminster Palace) at least once in his or her
lifetime. Those that love politics will not need any form of persuasion, but
can adequately confirm that those that not even into politics will enjoy it equally,
hence if you are ever thinking of where to go or do in London, then a tour of
the parliament is a high recommendation.
Cost and Tour
Duration
Ticket for adults does retail for £15, if you are lucky to
be a student, then it’s £10. The guided tour last approximately 75mins. You
will be wishing it was longer by the end of the tour.
Rules and Regulations
Below are some of the guidance we were told to adhere to
during the visit, in summary, breathing is the only thing you are allowed to
do. It’s quite a strict procedure, but as my accomplice expressed, it actually
makes you focus more on the tour. Some of the ones highlighted were:
1.
No death – neither you nor the MPs are allowed
to die in the parliament building, hence if you have any idea that you might
have heart attack or something, then please stay out. This is serious and not a
joke as you might be thinking.
2.
No camera allowed once the tour begins. The only
exception is the “Westminster Hall”, the point where we are gathered when
waiting for the tour to begin.
3.
No Mobile phones – preference is for the phones
to be switched off but you are also allowed to put it in silent mode. So those
of you Facebooker and Twitterers that like to keep people up to date with your
affairs might not be able to do that for 75 mins, lets hope your followers
don’t think you are dead.
4.
No seating – you must adequately be abled for
the tour as there is no seating allowed during the tour. Reason for this is
because you need to be a Lord or member of the parliament to seat in the House of Lords and House of Common respectively. Seating facilities in the other
rooms are for important dignitaries and goes along with the same principles.
5.
No riff raff behaviour – e.g. chewing gums,
spitting, swearing, and all those crazy characteristics that you exhibit
anywhere else.
Statistics
The parliament seats on an area of 8 acres (3.2 hectares), 3
miles of passageways, 1,100 rooms, height of clock Tower is 316 feet (96m), and
height of the Victoria Tower is 323 feet (98m).
Facts
1.
Red is the colour denotation for the house of
Lords, and Green for the house of common.
2.
As you might have suspected, the décor in house
of Lords are splendid and probably defined as out of this world, but house of
common is very basic (probably secured from Ikea).
3.
Lords respond by answering “Content” (in favour)
or “Not Content” (against the motion).
4.
Members of the house of common respond to motion
by saying either "Aye" (in favour of the motion) or "No"
(against the motion).
5.
If you watching the debate on TV, and see the
MPs leaning their head against the seats, was informed they are not sleeping,
what in fact they are doing is listening to the questions/responses through the
speakers integrated into the side of the seats.
6.
During the Prime Minister question time, the
opposition is allowed to asks six questions, with the first one very basic such
as how was the week going.
7.
The reason why the Prime Minister of the day
always has a very large file is because it contains response(s) to all possible
questions that the opposition might raise. This means that the advisers to the
PM need to have thought off all the questions the opposition could ask, and
provide the response (or data) in the folder which the PM has in front of
him(or her).
8.
As of today (2012), there are currently 650
elected MPs, but there is a plan to cut that down to 600 for the next election
(2015).Yep, some MPs are not happy as their constituencies might disappear
entirely, and some will have to do a merger. Discussion on the implementation
strategy remains a hot debate.
9.
There is also a recommendation to cut down the
amount of the Lords, a motion tabled by the current (2012) coalition partner,
Lib Dem.
Westminster Hall
Work commenced on the hall during the reign of Williams the
conquerer’s son, William Rufus, in 1097. It was completed in 1099 and designed
to host great state occasions and be a place for feasts and entertainment. It
is has witnessed some of the pivotal moments in British history (e.g. trial of
Guy fawkes and King Charles I).
At 240 feet x 68 feet (73m x 20.7m) in dimension, it was the
second largest building in Europe during it’s early days. Am in agreement with
the guide that confirmed that it is an architectural spectacle, with the
largest surviving single span mediaeval timber roof in Northern Europe, and has
witnesses
Keep a close on the floor as you will notice some of the key
events commemorated on brass plaques.
One most important thing, please arrive about 20 mins
earlier in order to pass through security and make your timeslot for tour. The
show will begin with or without you being present.
 |
| Free Badges |
 |
| Security Pass |
No comments:
Post a Comment