The talk today was by Kevin Foster and the subject of his talk was “ The role of a Government Minister “.
(Words and pictures as usual from our very own Tony Taft, buttons pushed by WebEd Tony Hare)
Kevin Foster is a British Conservative Party Politician who was the member of Parliament for Torbay from 2015 to 2024.
He served as Minister of State for transport from September 2022 until October 2022
Kevin started his talk about the history of the Houses of Parliament, and told us of the time when the Palace of Westminster, the medieval royal palace used as the home of the British Parliament, was largely destroyed by fire on the 16th of October 1834, this fire was accidental and not deliberate, see picture an artist’s impression below.
Kevin said the second time that the House of Commons was destroyed, was by incendiary bombs which fell on the nights of 10 and 11 May 1941, causing the greatest of damage to the Palace.
The Commons Chamber was hit by bombs and the roof of Westminster Hall was set on fire, both could not be saved so it was decided to concentrate on saving the hall, photo below.
Kevin then told us about the rituals that mp’s have to carry out in order to enter Parliament, one ritual is carried out in the members cloakroom.
Now this started way back in history when politicians carried swords, and on entering the Palace they would have to hang their swords on hooks that were specially provided for this purpose. Come back to today, we do not carry swords thankfully so in order to carry on this traditional ritual, members are expected to hang loops of pink ribbon on the same hooks, the ribbons acting as a members sword. In the photo below if you look closely you can see the ribbons. Kevin told us of one occasion when a member who owned a sword, took his sword to Parliament and hanged the sword on his hook, all perfectly legal but apparently security were having a fit over it.
We were told about members wishing to be one of the lucky fifteen to ask questions during the Prime Minister’s question time. Fifteen members would have their names pulled out of a hat, like a raffle; the speaker would then look closely at the names and the party they represented, to make sure a fair balance of party members was observed.
The members who were unlucky would have to bob up and down during the session to try and catch the speakers eye, those who were not able to do this for whatever reason could hold a piece of paper up high which would have the same effect.
The red box that you see politicians hold on tv is really there to make for good television, in reality it contains nothing, all documentation now comes in ultra secure emails.
The boxes were made heavy so that if they were thrown into a body of water they would sink and any documents inside would be destroyed.
Comments were made that we would love new members, and Kevin was invited to join our club, Kevin did say that now that he has more time on his hands his wife has made a list of things that need doing so maybe he might join to escape these jobs.
Paignton Probus Club 