The State Apartments Of Speaker’s House Tour, London

This is the first of two trips I took around different parts of the Palace of Westminster, probably better known as the Houses of Parliament, today. I have been around the chambers of government and the lords previously and visited the house for PMQs. Today, it was a couple of new areas that they have opened up starting with The State Apartments Of Speaker’s House.

There has been a palace on the site at Westminster since 1097 and was (and officially still is) a royal palace but the last monarch to live here was Henry VIII. Parliament moved in during 1547 and remained until a fire destroyed the place in the 1800s.

A mark that’s stood the test of time

A competition was organised to get architects to pitch for the work but as there was so much corruption and nepotism (ah, how times have changed…) it was run as an anonymous tender. Each architect had to place only a mark on their designs. The mark of the winning entry, by Charles Barry, was a portcullis which is used and associated with parliament to this day.

The Speaker’s House, where I was visiting today, was started and then the Lords wanted their chamber finished and so there was a 19-year hiatus before it was actually finished. The current speaker and occupant, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, is the 158th of the role. Given that these are working areas this tour only takes place during the recess of parliament so there’s no danger of bumping into him or John Redwood [insert name of your least favourite MP here]. It would be a fantastic place to work as the main rooms overlook the Thames and on a fine day like today, it was a beautiful outlook.

We were taken round by a very knowledgeable guide who pointed out things of interest on the way round. Much of these were prompted by the paintings from the Speaker’s Portrait Collection that adorn the walls. This included the tale of John Trevor who was unfortunately cross-eyed. Until then the Speaker would just look at the MP he wanted to speak but his eyes caused confusion and so this led to MPs being called by their name!

Baroness Boothroyd

In the Corner Room, we learned about the first (and as of today only) female speaker, Betty Boothroyd who brought in her own touches such as the baby grand in the room. As part of the package of becoming a Speaker, you get your own coat of arms designed which are displayed as inlays in the walls. That is unless you are a woman as you wouldn’t go to war and therefore couldn’t have a shield. Instead, you have a lozenge which doesn’t sound anywhere near as good. There were some nice touches on these where Speakers had reflected their previous lives.

All in all, it was an interesting tour.

If you are wondering why this post isn’t peppered with pictures from the tour that’s because taking them was forbidden due to “security” reasons, which I didn’t really buy.

In the afternoon I went on the Big Ben Tour.