The King’s Speech, State Opening and the 1922 Committee

As the Government sets out its legislative plans for the next Session, Ruth and Mark look at the political and parliamentary prospects for the proposals and discuss the latest on what’s happening with HS2 legislation.

They ask why Parliament has legislative Sessions that begin with State Opening and end with prorogation, and disagree over whether it’s time to abandon the pageantry!

Mark and Ruth are then off to the House of Lords to meet Professor the Lord Norton of Louth to discuss the subject of his new book, the 1922 Committee of the Conservative Party, which has risen to prominence in recent years due to the number of Conservative Party leadership elections. The 1922 Committee was not founded in 1922 and it is not a Committee, so what is it? And is the selection of party leaders by the party membership really compatible with our system of parliamentary democracy?

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Parliament Matters is a Hansard Society production supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust • Produced by Luke Boga Mitchell, Hansard Society

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