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We like wrapping things up in ribbon in Parliament. | 0:00:03 | 0:00:06 | |
Since time immemorial, green has been the colour of the House of Commons | 0:00:06 | 0:00:09 | |
and red the colour of the House of Lords. | 0:00:09 | 0:00:12 | |
For 100 years, | 0:00:12 | 0:00:13 | |
a delicate balance of power has existed between our two | 0:00:13 | 0:00:18 | |
Houses of Parliament. | 0:00:18 | 0:00:20 | |
This is the splendidly traditional way in which the two Houses | 0:00:20 | 0:00:24 | |
exchange messages. | 0:00:24 | 0:00:26 | |
But now, that's under threat. | 0:00:26 | 0:00:29 | |
Come on, the Lords. | 0:00:29 | 0:00:31 | |
Come on, your lordships. | 0:00:31 | 0:00:32 | |
Division! | 0:00:34 | 0:00:35 | |
We just, we just won, that is great. | 0:00:38 | 0:00:40 | |
See, the House of Lords, rocking. | 0:00:40 | 0:00:43 | |
In a year that has seen political orders overturned around the world, | 0:00:44 | 0:00:46 | |
the Commons and Lords have been fighting their own battle - | 0:00:46 | 0:00:50 | |
with each other. | 0:00:50 | 0:00:51 | |
We've been behind the scenes where no-one's filmed before. | 0:00:52 | 0:00:56 | |
Not all men are keen on wearing diamante buckles on their slippers. | 0:00:56 | 0:01:01 | |
Who will win this war of wills? | 0:01:02 | 0:01:06 | |
Hello, Lord. | 0:01:22 | 0:01:24 | |
Monty, it's Keith, can you take a message, please? | 0:01:29 | 0:01:32 | |
Yeah, thanks, mate, cheers, bye. | 0:01:32 | 0:01:34 | |
-OK, Mr Beamish. -This is the fun bit, | 0:01:34 | 0:01:36 | |
when the police clear everybody aside | 0:01:36 | 0:01:38 | |
and it makes me feel like Moses crossing the Red Sea, | 0:01:38 | 0:01:43 | |
and the waters parting. | 0:01:43 | 0:01:44 | |
The most important people are made to stand aside. | 0:01:44 | 0:01:47 | |
I think they're ready. | 0:01:47 | 0:01:49 | |
Chief clerk David Beamish is carrying a Bill back to the Commons | 0:01:49 | 0:01:53 | |
with suggested amendments made by the Lords. | 0:01:53 | 0:01:57 | |
It's probably one of those things that's become fossilised in time | 0:01:57 | 0:02:00 | |
and nobody's ever thought to change it, | 0:02:00 | 0:02:03 | |
a bit like the clerks still wearing 18th-century dress with wigs and gowns. | 0:02:03 | 0:02:07 | |
The Lords' role is to revise legislation and to ask the Government to | 0:02:10 | 0:02:14 | |
think again. | 0:02:14 | 0:02:16 | |
The way we describe the whole Houses of Commons is at | 0:02:16 | 0:02:18 | |
the other end are the students | 0:02:18 | 0:02:20 | |
and the schoolchildren, they do the work, | 0:02:20 | 0:02:23 | |
and the House of Lords are the teachers. | 0:02:23 | 0:02:25 | |
So it's sent up, we mark it, correct it, | 0:02:25 | 0:02:27 | |
send it back down and then laws and bills are passed. | 0:02:27 | 0:02:30 | |
Morning. | 0:02:30 | 0:02:31 | |
On the way out there will be a short test, OK? | 0:02:31 | 0:02:34 | |
If you get less than 90% you're back in for an hour, all right? | 0:02:34 | 0:02:37 | |
That includes you. | 0:02:37 | 0:02:38 | |
If the two Houses can't agree, | 0:02:41 | 0:02:43 | |
the unelected Lords are supposed to give way to the Commons. | 0:02:43 | 0:02:46 | |
Division! | 0:02:49 | 0:02:52 | |
But since the Tories came to power in 2015, | 0:02:52 | 0:02:54 | |
rebellious lords have thrown their weight around and derailed key | 0:02:54 | 0:02:58 | |
Government policies. | 0:02:58 | 0:03:00 | |
The Government has had enough. | 0:03:00 | 0:03:02 | |
Sometimes people come here and think that they can overturn | 0:03:04 | 0:03:08 | |
an elected government, and they can't, and they shouldn't, | 0:03:08 | 0:03:12 | |
and they need to be disabused of that view. | 0:03:12 | 0:03:14 | |
It's winter, 2015. | 0:03:16 | 0:03:18 | |
The Prime Minister has called on his party's most canny operator in | 0:03:18 | 0:03:21 | |
the Lords to rein them in. | 0:03:21 | 0:03:25 | |
When residing at his London home, rather than his Scottish estate, | 0:03:25 | 0:03:29 | |
hereditary peer Lord Strathclyde | 0:03:29 | 0:03:30 | |
has one of the shortest commutes in Westminster. | 0:03:30 | 0:03:34 | |
I think I can do it in about three minutes, | 0:03:34 | 0:03:36 | |
maybe even quicker if I have to run. | 0:03:36 | 0:03:39 | |
The Prime Minister wants him to review the power the Lords has to | 0:03:39 | 0:03:42 | |
block the Government. | 0:03:42 | 0:03:45 | |
This is the small, back-door entrance to the House of Lords, | 0:03:46 | 0:03:49 | |
which I like, it's very quiet and calm. | 0:03:49 | 0:03:52 | |
I never tire of coming into this building. | 0:03:55 | 0:03:57 | |
I don't really believe in ghosts, | 0:04:05 | 0:04:07 | |
but there are ancient voices that come through late at night. | 0:04:07 | 0:04:10 | |
You somehow feel the spirits | 0:04:10 | 0:04:11 | |
of the great men and women who have been here in the past... | 0:04:11 | 0:04:16 | |
And played their part in the governance of the country | 0:04:16 | 0:04:20 | |
in one form or another. | 0:04:20 | 0:04:22 | |
George IV, liked dressing up. | 0:04:22 | 0:04:24 | |
These are well-trodden paths, well-trodden. | 0:04:27 | 0:04:29 | |
-Hello. -Hello. | 0:04:29 | 0:04:31 | |
Lord Garel-Jones, lovely to see you. | 0:04:32 | 0:04:34 | |
I feel very comfortable here. | 0:04:37 | 0:04:38 | |
I've been here quite a long time, so I know all these people very well. | 0:04:38 | 0:04:42 | |
When he first came here, it was a very different place. | 0:04:44 | 0:04:49 | |
Dominated by hereditary peers like him. | 0:04:49 | 0:04:52 | |
There's our front bench, there I am, | 0:04:52 | 0:04:55 | |
a far more youthful me than I seem to remember. | 0:04:55 | 0:05:00 | |
It was a different House, there's no doubt about that, | 0:05:02 | 0:05:04 | |
from the way it is today. | 0:05:04 | 0:05:06 | |
There's a great team of people there, | 0:05:10 | 0:05:12 | |
as there were on the Opposition. | 0:05:12 | 0:05:14 | |
I've always said that Labour make a far better opposition than they do | 0:05:14 | 0:05:16 | |
a government, when it comes to the House of Lords. | 0:05:16 | 0:05:19 | |
They don't like me saying that, though! | 0:05:19 | 0:05:22 | |
Reform in 1999 kicked out most of the aristocrats. | 0:05:26 | 0:05:30 | |
Now Labour and Lib Dems outgun the Tories. | 0:05:30 | 0:05:34 | |
For the first time we have a Conservative Government who don't | 0:05:34 | 0:05:38 | |
have a natural majority in the House of Lords, | 0:05:38 | 0:05:41 | |
which they had for much of the 20th century. | 0:05:41 | 0:05:43 | |
This is the first time that a Labour Party, in Opposition, | 0:05:47 | 0:05:52 | |
has had the kind of power and control over the House | 0:05:52 | 0:05:56 | |
that it has demonstrated. | 0:05:56 | 0:05:58 | |
I think I need to take their lordships to the clifftop | 0:05:59 | 0:06:02 | |
and let them look over the edge. | 0:06:02 | 0:06:04 | |
Well, in some ways, I think | 0:06:04 | 0:06:06 | |
Tom Strathclyde is an ideal person to do this, | 0:06:06 | 0:06:09 | |
but he's a foxy, crafty character. | 0:06:09 | 0:06:11 | |
A former Lib Dem MP, Lord Tyler, | 0:06:19 | 0:06:22 | |
has a humble bedsit round the corner from the Lords. | 0:06:22 | 0:06:26 | |
Never used the cooker, ever. | 0:06:26 | 0:06:28 | |
Well, I think once, | 0:06:28 | 0:06:29 | |
but it was just to warm up a pizza which had gone rather flabby. | 0:06:29 | 0:06:33 | |
I think when I was a student I had a slightly bigger room. | 0:06:33 | 0:06:37 | |
Normally, it's a quick breakfast and then off to the Lords. | 0:06:41 | 0:06:46 | |
Back again quite late. | 0:06:46 | 0:06:48 | |
I'm so used to it, it doesn't seem odd. | 0:06:50 | 0:06:54 | |
I suspect anybody else would think it's very odd, | 0:06:54 | 0:06:57 | |
peculiar people to live that sort of life. | 0:06:57 | 0:07:01 | |
The last election saw the Lib Dems | 0:07:03 | 0:07:05 | |
cut down to just eight MPs in the Commons. | 0:07:05 | 0:07:08 | |
But in the Lords, they still have 100 unelected peers, | 0:07:08 | 0:07:12 | |
unwilling to give up any of their power. | 0:07:12 | 0:07:15 | |
If there was an attempt to take on the House of Lords and try, | 0:07:15 | 0:07:18 | |
as it were, to lame us, nobble us, neutralise us, make us impotent, | 0:07:18 | 0:07:24 | |
the Lords would not go down without a fight. | 0:07:24 | 0:07:28 | |
The stage is set for an historic showdown | 0:07:31 | 0:07:33 | |
between the Government and the Lords. | 0:07:33 | 0:07:37 | |
This is not a place that always welcomes change. | 0:07:38 | 0:07:43 | |
When I tell people where I work and what I wear, | 0:07:43 | 0:07:47 | |
quite a lot of people don't believe me or refuse to believe it happens | 0:07:47 | 0:07:50 | |
like this any more. They think it's quite funny. | 0:07:50 | 0:07:53 | |
We work in this amazing building. | 0:07:55 | 0:07:57 | |
The uniform goes with the building. | 0:07:57 | 0:08:00 | |
You put a role on with the uniform and it's a bit of an act. | 0:08:00 | 0:08:04 | |
We wear a black waistcoat because we are still in mourning | 0:08:04 | 0:08:07 | |
for Prince Albert. No-one told the doorkeepers, | 0:08:07 | 0:08:10 | |
"OK, we've mourned enough now, so you can stop." | 0:08:10 | 0:08:13 | |
We've been in mourning for 150 years. | 0:08:13 | 0:08:17 | |
It's very strange putting it on for the first time, | 0:08:17 | 0:08:20 | |
you do hold yourself a bit stiffer and a bit more upright and you act, | 0:08:20 | 0:08:24 | |
I think, in a little more of a formal way | 0:08:24 | 0:08:26 | |
once you've got the uniform on. | 0:08:26 | 0:08:28 | |
But I think that's the point of it. | 0:08:28 | 0:08:30 | |
When Lords and Commons don't see eye-to-eye there are more votes. | 0:08:30 | 0:08:35 | |
There's no electronic voting here. | 0:08:35 | 0:08:37 | |
Whatever their age, peers vote with their feet. | 0:08:37 | 0:08:40 | |
The whips, who are normally sitting around this area, | 0:08:40 | 0:08:44 | |
will give us an idea of which groups are likely to have a division. | 0:08:44 | 0:08:48 | |
First of all we listen out for, "Clear the bar". | 0:08:48 | 0:08:51 | |
That means there is a division. | 0:08:51 | 0:08:54 | |
The clerks would start counting eight minutes. | 0:08:54 | 0:08:57 | |
So, as soon as that happens, we open the doors into the voting lobbies... | 0:08:57 | 0:09:02 | |
..we lock the door at the other end of the voting lobby. | 0:09:04 | 0:09:09 | |
As soon as the clerk indicates that eight minutes is up, | 0:09:12 | 0:09:15 | |
all the doors shut. | 0:09:15 | 0:09:17 | |
If a member turns up two seconds past, they cannot come in. | 0:09:21 | 0:09:27 | |
Sometimes you really do literally | 0:09:27 | 0:09:29 | |
have to slam the door in somebody's face. | 0:09:29 | 0:09:31 | |
As lords wait nervously for the publication of Lord Strathclyde's report, | 0:09:37 | 0:09:42 | |
party leaders on all sides urge their members to show restraint. | 0:09:42 | 0:09:47 | |
But for 83-year-old Lord Dubs, | 0:09:51 | 0:09:54 | |
there is one burning issue that is more important than party politics | 0:09:54 | 0:09:57 | |
and bowing to the will of the Commons. | 0:09:57 | 0:09:59 | |
Across Europe, refugees are fleeing war and persecution. | 0:10:01 | 0:10:04 | |
He's visiting the thousands of refugees stranded in Calais. | 0:10:07 | 0:10:10 | |
I want to ensure that Britain plays its part in giving safety to | 0:10:10 | 0:10:14 | |
the children who are vulnerable to being sucked into trafficking, | 0:10:14 | 0:10:18 | |
into prostitution, into criminality, into drugs. | 0:10:18 | 0:10:21 | |
Very vulnerable young people. | 0:10:21 | 0:10:23 | |
He knows what it's like to be a refugee. | 0:10:25 | 0:10:28 | |
Mum and Dad, from their Czech passports. | 0:10:28 | 0:10:31 | |
That's my father, a bit overweight he was! | 0:10:31 | 0:10:33 | |
And my mum. | 0:10:33 | 0:10:34 | |
That was about three weeks after the Nazis occupied Prague. | 0:10:36 | 0:10:40 | |
These were good friends of ours and when the Nazis came eventually | 0:10:40 | 0:10:44 | |
they both went to concentration camps. | 0:10:44 | 0:10:46 | |
He didn't survive and she went to a camp and she survived. | 0:10:46 | 0:10:49 | |
And that's me in the middle. | 0:10:49 | 0:10:51 | |
He was rescued by the British Government. | 0:10:54 | 0:10:58 | |
All I remember is we were all on the train, I didn't know anybody else, | 0:11:00 | 0:11:04 | |
all children. | 0:11:04 | 0:11:05 | |
I was one of the youngest. | 0:11:05 | 0:11:07 | |
My mum was there with a friend looking very anxious and all | 0:11:07 | 0:11:10 | |
the other parents were there looking desperately anxious saying goodbye | 0:11:10 | 0:11:14 | |
to the children they might never see - | 0:11:14 | 0:11:16 | |
some of them realised they'd never see them again - | 0:11:16 | 0:11:19 | |
and off the train went. | 0:11:19 | 0:11:21 | |
At that time, Britain was the only country that was persuaded to | 0:11:21 | 0:11:24 | |
take Kinder transport children from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia. | 0:11:24 | 0:11:27 | |
All the other countries said no, even the Americans said no. | 0:11:27 | 0:11:31 | |
Lord Dubs wants to amend the Government's Immigration Bill | 0:11:32 | 0:11:35 | |
to give 3,000 refugee children a home in Britain. | 0:11:35 | 0:11:39 | |
'What I want to do is to give at least some of them the chance | 0:11:39 | 0:11:43 | |
'of having safety in this country | 0:11:43 | 0:11:45 | |
'in the way this country gave me safety. | 0:11:45 | 0:11:48 | |
'I'm seeking support from the bishops, | 0:11:48 | 0:11:51 | |
'from the Lib Dems and the crossbenchers and hopefully some of the Conservatives | 0:11:51 | 0:11:55 | |
'because I believe if there's any chance of winning, | 0:11:55 | 0:11:58 | |
'it's got to be done on the basis of broad political support.' | 0:11:58 | 0:12:01 | |
Rebellious lords have the advantage that they can't be sacked. | 0:12:04 | 0:12:08 | |
Unlike MPs, | 0:12:08 | 0:12:09 | |
they have a job for life and aren't accountable | 0:12:09 | 0:12:12 | |
to constituents or party - only to themselves. | 0:12:12 | 0:12:16 | |
I'm quite torn about this, actually, | 0:12:16 | 0:12:19 | |
because obviously | 0:12:19 | 0:12:22 | |
as a Conservative peer, which I am, | 0:12:22 | 0:12:24 | |
I want to support the Conservative Government, | 0:12:24 | 0:12:27 | |
it's not very mysterious. | 0:12:27 | 0:12:29 | |
But I do feel that when | 0:12:30 | 0:12:34 | |
the Opposition put up sensible amendments, | 0:12:34 | 0:12:38 | |
I do find it quite difficult to vote against that. | 0:12:38 | 0:12:42 | |
That's part of the spirit of the Lords. | 0:12:42 | 0:12:46 | |
I was a party political person for many years | 0:12:46 | 0:12:48 | |
and therefore I always | 0:12:48 | 0:12:49 | |
obeyed the party whip, or I tended to obey the party whip as far | 0:12:49 | 0:12:53 | |
as I can remember, but now I'm footloose and fancy free, | 0:12:53 | 0:12:56 | |
I can vote exactly which way I want, I don't give a damn, | 0:12:56 | 0:12:58 | |
nobody instructs me, I do whatever I think is right. | 0:12:58 | 0:13:01 | |
Many peers, like Admiral Lord West, | 0:13:03 | 0:13:07 | |
are out of step with their party leadership. | 0:13:07 | 0:13:11 | |
I think I'm slightly unusual in that I lie to the left of centre in | 0:13:11 | 0:13:15 | |
the way I think and the things that I do but I'm not a member of | 0:13:15 | 0:13:19 | |
the Socialist Workers Party, that would be too far for me to go. | 0:13:19 | 0:13:22 | |
I take the Labour whip, | 0:13:24 | 0:13:26 | |
but if one absolutely doesn't agree with something | 0:13:26 | 0:13:29 | |
you just don't turn up or, you know, if you really, really are grumpy, | 0:13:29 | 0:13:32 | |
you vote the other way and if someone puts pressure on you, | 0:13:32 | 0:13:35 | |
well, you know, rabbit away, mate, is basically it because, you know, | 0:13:35 | 0:13:39 | |
at the end of the day, they can do nothing about it. | 0:13:39 | 0:13:42 | |
Lord West is a leading contributor to debates on defence but he also | 0:13:43 | 0:13:47 | |
pursues his own interests regardless of party policy. | 0:13:47 | 0:13:51 | |
Because I'm in the Lords, that gives me a platform. | 0:13:51 | 0:13:54 | |
If I were just AN Other person in Tunbridge Wells, you know, | 0:13:54 | 0:13:58 | |
Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells, that gets no traction. | 0:13:58 | 0:14:01 | |
Right, here we go. | 0:14:01 | 0:14:02 | |
I'll let you take charge of the buttons. | 0:14:04 | 0:14:06 | |
Today, Lord West is using his privileged platform to entertain | 0:14:06 | 0:14:09 | |
his passion for flags and heraldry. | 0:14:09 | 0:14:12 | |
He's persuaded the authorities to let him onto the palace roof. | 0:14:12 | 0:14:16 | |
Not something one does every day. | 0:14:16 | 0:14:18 | |
Well, I think Albert probably does, you do it every day, do you? | 0:14:18 | 0:14:21 | |
Yes, we do, yes. | 0:14:21 | 0:14:23 | |
There we are. | 0:14:25 | 0:14:26 | |
The whole parliamentary estate all laid out below us. | 0:14:26 | 0:14:30 | |
Must be one of the best views in London. | 0:14:30 | 0:14:32 | |
You can see for miles up here. | 0:14:35 | 0:14:37 | |
-Do you have your lunch up here, bag meals? -Oh, no! -Oh, I would. | 0:14:37 | 0:14:40 | |
-Aren't you allowed to? -No food's allowed up. -Oh, no! | 0:14:40 | 0:14:43 | |
Well, I'd probably cheat and have a little picnic up here. | 0:14:43 | 0:14:47 | |
Bloody brilliant it would be, wouldn't it?! | 0:14:47 | 0:14:50 | |
Before, it only used to fly when the House was sitting and we felt that | 0:14:50 | 0:14:54 | |
was not correct. This is the seat of the mother of all parliaments, | 0:14:54 | 0:14:57 | |
the seat of government in this country, and we didn't even fly our | 0:14:57 | 0:15:01 | |
own flag, which seemed to us totally ridiculous. | 0:15:01 | 0:15:03 | |
We said, "Why not fly it every day? We should fly it every day." | 0:15:03 | 0:15:06 | |
We've managed to achieve that. | 0:15:06 | 0:15:08 | |
Now, one of the next steps is to have the flag of England, Scotland, | 0:15:13 | 0:15:18 | |
Wales and a bare flagpole | 0:15:18 | 0:15:21 | |
because there isn't a flag for Northern Ireland | 0:15:21 | 0:15:23 | |
but we think there should be | 0:15:23 | 0:15:25 | |
and when they see there's a bare flagpole there, | 0:15:25 | 0:15:27 | |
this might get some move towards actually producing one. | 0:15:27 | 0:15:30 | |
Morning, Lord. | 0:15:33 | 0:15:35 | |
It's January 2016, | 0:15:35 | 0:15:38 | |
and peers return from their winter break to get their hands on | 0:15:38 | 0:15:41 | |
the hottest document in Westminster. | 0:15:41 | 0:15:43 | |
Do you have a copy of the Strathclyde report? | 0:15:43 | 0:15:46 | |
-It's just there. -Lovely. | 0:15:46 | 0:15:47 | |
Thanks very much. Thank you. | 0:15:47 | 0:15:49 | |
The House of Lords is never going to like this report, | 0:15:53 | 0:15:56 | |
to which I say, well, you should never have done what you did. | 0:15:56 | 0:16:01 | |
I don't think it's going to be a best seller. | 0:16:01 | 0:16:05 | |
The pigeons will be fluttering. | 0:16:05 | 0:16:07 | |
Who the cat is, in this case, I'm not yet so sure. | 0:16:07 | 0:16:10 | |
Can we prepare the lobby, please, doorkeepers? | 0:16:12 | 0:16:14 | |
Lord Strathclyde has decided to go for the nuclear option. | 0:16:17 | 0:16:20 | |
He's recommended a new law curbing the Lords' powers to block the Government. | 0:16:20 | 0:16:25 | |
We don't like it. | 0:16:25 | 0:16:27 | |
We certainly don't like it. | 0:16:27 | 0:16:30 | |
I don't think the crossbenchers are going to like it | 0:16:30 | 0:16:32 | |
and they are crucial in this debate. | 0:16:32 | 0:16:34 | |
Peers will have the chance to debate the report | 0:16:36 | 0:16:39 | |
but if the Government wants to make the recommendations law, | 0:16:39 | 0:16:42 | |
they'll be powerless to stop it. | 0:16:42 | 0:16:44 | |
Well, I'm going to go into the chamber and it will be, I expect, | 0:16:46 | 0:16:49 | |
about six hours before we get out, maybe even longer than that. | 0:16:49 | 0:16:52 | |
We'll see. | 0:16:52 | 0:16:53 | |
Long debates like this one can last many hours. | 0:17:00 | 0:17:04 | |
The Lords still use a messaging system that predates the digital age | 0:17:04 | 0:17:08 | |
to keep them in touch with the outside world. | 0:17:08 | 0:17:11 | |
Some of them are very trivial, some of them are "Please ring home", | 0:17:11 | 0:17:15 | |
some of them are, | 0:17:15 | 0:17:16 | |
"Would you like to talk to the Times about this subject?" | 0:17:16 | 0:17:20 | |
We're supposed to be invisible. | 0:17:22 | 0:17:24 | |
We don't hang around, we just get the things in and then skedaddle. | 0:17:24 | 0:17:29 | |
It's very personal, yes, and just somewhat Victorian. | 0:17:31 | 0:17:35 | |
Lord Strathclyde. | 0:17:41 | 0:17:42 | |
Hear, hear! | 0:17:42 | 0:17:44 | |
My Lords, this debate goes to the heart | 0:17:45 | 0:17:49 | |
of what we believe we are here to do, what we are for. | 0:17:49 | 0:17:55 | |
It goes to the heart of the relationship that we have between | 0:17:55 | 0:17:58 | |
this House and the House of Commons. | 0:17:58 | 0:18:01 | |
'He's using it, | 0:18:01 | 0:18:03 | |
'trying to pretend that he's concerned about the primacy | 0:18:03 | 0:18:07 | |
'of the House of Commons.' | 0:18:07 | 0:18:08 | |
What he's really concerned about and what the Government are | 0:18:08 | 0:18:11 | |
really concerned about is to stop scrutiny | 0:18:11 | 0:18:14 | |
and challenging the Executive, challenging the Government. | 0:18:14 | 0:18:17 | |
The House can always, virtually always, | 0:18:17 | 0:18:20 | |
defeat the Government and that way chaos lies. | 0:18:20 | 0:18:25 | |
They're pissed off. | 0:18:26 | 0:18:27 | |
They want to, you know, basically cart us off, | 0:18:27 | 0:18:30 | |
lock us up and tell us to shut up | 0:18:30 | 0:18:32 | |
and that's not how the British system of government works | 0:18:32 | 0:18:37 | |
and they shouldn't really be trying to get through what | 0:18:37 | 0:18:40 | |
they're doing now. | 0:18:40 | 0:18:41 | |
I think that's a very dangerous route for us to go down. | 0:18:43 | 0:18:47 | |
Hear, hear. | 0:18:47 | 0:18:48 | |
'It's been a hell of a day. | 0:18:51 | 0:18:52 | |
'These are serious issues.' | 0:18:52 | 0:18:54 | |
This is about how we make laws. | 0:18:54 | 0:18:56 | |
That's why it counts, that's why people get excited about it | 0:18:56 | 0:19:01 | |
and now the Government will have to think about where it goes next. | 0:19:01 | 0:19:07 | |
The Lords are now living under a threat. | 0:19:19 | 0:19:22 | |
Obstruct the Government plans again and they could pay a high price. | 0:19:22 | 0:19:26 | |
It's February. For a few cold weeks, there's a ceasefire between | 0:19:31 | 0:19:35 | |
the Government and the Lords. | 0:19:35 | 0:19:38 | |
And window cleaners prepare to give the palace's 4,000 windows | 0:19:38 | 0:19:41 | |
their annual scrub. | 0:19:41 | 0:19:43 | |
Harness, carabiners, descenders, | 0:19:45 | 0:19:48 | |
everything we need to get the job done. | 0:19:48 | 0:19:51 | |
And obviously our ropes, as well. | 0:19:51 | 0:19:53 | |
Weigh quite a bit. | 0:19:53 | 0:19:55 | |
It's not too windy, it's not too cold | 0:20:01 | 0:20:04 | |
and it's not raining. That's always a plus. | 0:20:04 | 0:20:09 | |
Just setting up our ropes. | 0:20:09 | 0:20:10 | |
Rigging to the structural steel work | 0:20:10 | 0:20:12 | |
so that we can get over the edge safely. | 0:20:12 | 0:20:15 | |
The last thing we want is to create an injury | 0:20:15 | 0:20:18 | |
or, in the worst case, a fatality. | 0:20:18 | 0:20:21 | |
This back section overlooks the river | 0:20:23 | 0:20:25 | |
so we'll be abseiling down with life jacket devices | 0:20:25 | 0:20:28 | |
to ensure if we did get down to the bottom for whatever reason | 0:20:28 | 0:20:32 | |
and not through the window, which is our planned route, | 0:20:32 | 0:20:36 | |
we would be OK. | 0:20:36 | 0:20:38 | |
We've got to watch our foot on like the brickwork and statues, | 0:20:39 | 0:20:41 | |
the gargoyles and stuff like that. | 0:20:41 | 0:20:43 | |
You don't want to be breaking those | 0:20:43 | 0:20:44 | |
because I don't know how much it would cost to replace that. | 0:20:44 | 0:20:47 | |
It's a very iconic building, you know. | 0:20:55 | 0:20:59 | |
They wanted it to stand out and it's certainly done the purpose. | 0:20:59 | 0:21:02 | |
The window cleaning was probably the last thing on their minds. | 0:21:02 | 0:21:05 | |
It's a good feeling to be able to say | 0:21:08 | 0:21:09 | |
I've been on the Houses of Parliament. | 0:21:09 | 0:21:11 | |
The windows are now clean but the future relationship | 0:21:21 | 0:21:24 | |
between Lords and Commons is less clear. | 0:21:24 | 0:21:27 | |
It's just two months since the Strathclyde report was debated | 0:21:30 | 0:21:35 | |
and already the fragile truce between the Government and Lords | 0:21:35 | 0:21:38 | |
is being put to the test. | 0:21:38 | 0:21:40 | |
The Government has introduced a bill to reform trade unions, | 0:21:41 | 0:21:44 | |
making contributions to political parties voluntary. | 0:21:44 | 0:21:48 | |
It says individual members, not union leaders, | 0:21:48 | 0:21:51 | |
should decide where their money goes. | 0:21:51 | 0:21:53 | |
But the move could drastically cut the Labour Party's funding. | 0:21:53 | 0:21:57 | |
Good morning, My Lady, how are you? | 0:21:57 | 0:21:58 | |
-Are you OK? -All good, My Lady. | 0:21:58 | 0:22:01 | |
'We didn't pick this fight, it's the Government that's picked this fight. | 0:22:01 | 0:22:04 | |
'So we're absolutely clear that if they've picked the fight, | 0:22:04 | 0:22:07 | |
'of course we're going to respond and we're going to try everything in | 0:22:07 | 0:22:10 | |
'our powers to make sure that we tame this bill in some way.' | 0:22:10 | 0:22:15 | |
As a party whip, | 0:22:18 | 0:22:19 | |
Baroness Morgan will be trying to get all Labour peers | 0:22:19 | 0:22:22 | |
to vote against the bill. | 0:22:22 | 0:22:25 | |
What happens is that every week, all of the Labour group receives | 0:22:25 | 0:22:28 | |
a whip telling them what's coming up, | 0:22:28 | 0:22:30 | |
what's going to be debated and whether they need to be here or not. | 0:22:30 | 0:22:35 | |
One line means, well, you know, if you turn up that would be good. | 0:22:35 | 0:22:39 | |
Two line, well, it's quite important. | 0:22:39 | 0:22:41 | |
But three line is, yes, you need to be here. | 0:22:41 | 0:22:44 | |
This week is a three line plus plus. | 0:22:44 | 0:22:47 | |
That is, you need to be here | 0:22:47 | 0:22:49 | |
and you may be in a bit of trouble if you're not. | 0:22:49 | 0:22:52 | |
To win, Labour will need support | 0:22:57 | 0:22:59 | |
from other parties and independent peers. | 0:22:59 | 0:23:03 | |
Lord Tyler is always keen to take on the Government but he wants to be | 0:23:03 | 0:23:07 | |
armed with the facts. | 0:23:07 | 0:23:09 | |
He's joined a cross-party committee set up to try and look at the issue | 0:23:09 | 0:23:13 | |
without party bias. | 0:23:13 | 0:23:15 | |
'I felt we ought to demonstrate to the Government that this wasn't | 0:23:15 | 0:23:18 | |
'just a straight Labour-Tory issue. | 0:23:18 | 0:23:21 | |
'It had significance for everybody in the House of Lords.' | 0:23:21 | 0:23:26 | |
What the Government appears to be doing | 0:23:27 | 0:23:29 | |
is trying to attack the Labour Party | 0:23:29 | 0:23:31 | |
and doing it in a way which is frankly pretty underhand. | 0:23:31 | 0:23:35 | |
The committee tables an amendment to the bill which would block | 0:23:38 | 0:23:41 | |
the changes to party funding. | 0:23:41 | 0:23:43 | |
-That's the way to do it. -That's very helpful. -OK. | 0:23:43 | 0:23:47 | |
Thanks very much. | 0:23:47 | 0:23:48 | |
Lord Tyler lobbies peers to vote against the Government. | 0:23:48 | 0:23:52 | |
'The brush past in the corridor is a very important function | 0:23:52 | 0:23:55 | |
'of this end of the building.' | 0:23:55 | 0:23:57 | |
Here, give me your card and I'll drop you a note... | 0:23:57 | 0:24:00 | |
'It can be incredibly useful.' | 0:24:00 | 0:24:03 | |
You can't overdo this because if you look as if | 0:24:03 | 0:24:05 | |
you're sort of a perennial plotter, | 0:24:05 | 0:24:07 | |
a sort of character from the 18th century who spends his or her | 0:24:07 | 0:24:11 | |
life wandering about this building to try and make sure that everybody | 0:24:11 | 0:24:15 | |
is onside, it's a bit too well organised. | 0:24:15 | 0:24:18 | |
But, you know, you bump into people, | 0:24:18 | 0:24:20 | |
don't you, and when you bump into people that's your opportunity, | 0:24:20 | 0:24:23 | |
as was the case just a few minutes ago, just here. | 0:24:23 | 0:24:25 | |
It's a good moment to have a conversation. | 0:24:25 | 0:24:28 | |
INAUDIBLE CONVERSATION | 0:24:30 | 0:24:32 | |
The trade union bill is running up against | 0:24:35 | 0:24:37 | |
the end of the Parliamentary session, | 0:24:37 | 0:24:39 | |
when all bills must be agreed by both Houses | 0:24:39 | 0:24:42 | |
or they won't make it into law. | 0:24:42 | 0:24:44 | |
Message from the Lords! | 0:24:45 | 0:24:47 | |
When the two Houses begin to disagree, | 0:24:48 | 0:24:52 | |
and therefore they send back amendments backwards and forwards, | 0:24:52 | 0:24:56 | |
this process is colloquially known as ping pong. | 0:24:56 | 0:25:00 | |
I suppose the ping is when it goes back from the House of Lords | 0:25:00 | 0:25:04 | |
to the House of Commons, | 0:25:04 | 0:25:05 | |
and the pong is when it comes back | 0:25:05 | 0:25:07 | |
from the House of Commons to the House of Lords. | 0:25:07 | 0:25:09 | |
If the Government and the Commons | 0:25:10 | 0:25:12 | |
chooses to reject the Lords' amendments, | 0:25:12 | 0:25:14 | |
it risks being timed out and losing the bill. | 0:25:14 | 0:25:18 | |
Occasionally there's a row, particularly towards the end of the session | 0:25:20 | 0:25:23 | |
when time is tight between issues | 0:25:23 | 0:25:25 | |
that the House of Commons want passed | 0:25:25 | 0:25:28 | |
and because the Government has no majority in the House of Lords, | 0:25:28 | 0:25:31 | |
it encourages the Opposition to dig their heels in and make life a bit | 0:25:31 | 0:25:37 | |
more difficult for the Government. | 0:25:37 | 0:25:39 | |
I'd like to say there is a mutual respect, but sometimes, | 0:25:39 | 0:25:42 | |
here you are, you see, just a few hundred yards between the two, | 0:25:42 | 0:25:45 | |
sometimes it's a gulf as big as the Atlantic Ocean. | 0:25:45 | 0:25:48 | |
Away from the Westminster bubble, | 0:25:52 | 0:25:54 | |
the refugee crisis in Europe is escalating. | 0:25:54 | 0:25:57 | |
Lord Dubs's amendment to allow | 0:25:57 | 0:25:59 | |
refugee children into Britain is part of the ping pong. | 0:25:59 | 0:26:03 | |
It has passed in the Lords, but been rejected by the Commons. | 0:26:03 | 0:26:07 | |
I was obviously disappointed that the Commons overturned the amendment. | 0:26:11 | 0:26:16 | |
I'd hoped for a better outcome. | 0:26:16 | 0:26:18 | |
It does make me more determined. | 0:26:20 | 0:26:22 | |
There are no parents or anybody to support them. | 0:26:24 | 0:26:27 | |
Some of them have been on their own, doing a difficult journey, | 0:26:27 | 0:26:29 | |
perhaps it's taken them a year or so, so they are pretty vulnerable. | 0:26:29 | 0:26:33 | |
But, of course, they put a brave face on it. | 0:26:33 | 0:26:35 | |
All I've argued along is that we should take our share, | 0:26:37 | 0:26:40 | |
we shouldn't take them all, we can't do that. | 0:26:40 | 0:26:42 | |
We should take our share of these young people, | 0:26:42 | 0:26:45 | |
and that's a fairly small thing to ask, really. | 0:26:45 | 0:26:47 | |
He submitted another amendment, | 0:26:49 | 0:26:51 | |
which demands some children be allowed in, | 0:26:51 | 0:26:53 | |
though not the 3,000 he was originally asking for. | 0:26:53 | 0:26:57 | |
It's a slightly softer amendment, | 0:26:57 | 0:26:59 | |
but the key principle is still there. | 0:26:59 | 0:27:01 | |
There are a number of people who feel that we shouldn't vote again on | 0:27:03 | 0:27:06 | |
an issue which the Commons has overturned. | 0:27:06 | 0:27:09 | |
But I would argue that there are certain occasions when the issue is | 0:27:10 | 0:27:14 | |
so important, it is such a matter of principle in humanitarian terms, | 0:27:14 | 0:27:18 | |
in terms of human rights, | 0:27:18 | 0:27:20 | |
that it is proper for the Commons to have to think again, | 0:27:20 | 0:27:24 | |
not just once but more than once. | 0:27:24 | 0:27:26 | |
Lord West has a very different issue which needs an answer from | 0:27:31 | 0:27:35 | |
the Government before term ends. | 0:27:35 | 0:27:38 | |
Hello, have you got a copy of my question on Boaty McBoatface? | 0:27:38 | 0:27:42 | |
OK, let me have a look. | 0:27:42 | 0:27:44 | |
A public poll to choose a name for a new polar research ship | 0:27:44 | 0:27:47 | |
has voted overwhelmingly for the name Boaty McBoatface. | 0:27:47 | 0:27:52 | |
Ah, lovely, thank you very much indeed. | 0:27:52 | 0:27:54 | |
Lord West isn't happy about it. | 0:27:54 | 0:27:56 | |
The question was "to ask Her Majesty's Government | 0:27:56 | 0:27:59 | |
"in the light of the fact that the Royal research ship being built | 0:27:59 | 0:28:02 | |
"for the British Antarctic Survey is a ship and not a boat, | 0:28:02 | 0:28:06 | |
"what is their assessment of the suitability of the name | 0:28:06 | 0:28:09 | |
"Boaty McBoatface for that vessel?" | 0:28:09 | 0:28:12 | |
It's all very amusing, and I think you get what you ask for, don't you? | 0:28:12 | 0:28:15 | |
If you ask the British public to come up with some ideas, | 0:28:15 | 0:28:18 | |
they come up with very amusing ideas like Boaty McBoatface and Usain Boat | 0:28:18 | 0:28:22 | |
and Boatimus Prime, all these names that were put in. | 0:28:22 | 0:28:25 | |
Well, I can call it Shippy McShipface... | 0:28:27 | 0:28:30 | |
Could be very, very difficult if one said it quickly, | 0:28:30 | 0:28:33 | |
I think it would be very awkward. | 0:28:33 | 0:28:35 | |
It is March, and the day of the big vote on party funding in | 0:28:43 | 0:28:47 | |
the trade union bill. | 0:28:47 | 0:28:48 | |
Labour Lords will need other rebel Lords to support them if | 0:28:48 | 0:28:51 | |
they are to defeat the Government. | 0:28:51 | 0:28:53 | |
Yes, trade union bill today. | 0:28:53 | 0:28:55 | |
There's obviously a bit more of a buzz in the air. | 0:28:55 | 0:28:58 | |
I'm well, thank you. | 0:28:58 | 0:28:59 | |
We've got quite a few of the Lords that don't take part in anything | 0:29:01 | 0:29:04 | |
in the House, they don't come in if they don't need to, | 0:29:04 | 0:29:07 | |
but they do have to come in, they say, when there's a division. | 0:29:07 | 0:29:10 | |
The cafes are fuller, the restaurant, | 0:29:10 | 0:29:13 | |
the bars are fuller, definitely. | 0:29:13 | 0:29:15 | |
Going around, you get a feeling very quickly there's a sort of tension. | 0:29:26 | 0:29:29 | |
People who are normally really friendly and easy-going are a little bit grumpy, that sort of thing. | 0:29:29 | 0:29:34 | |
There are some of us, like me, | 0:29:34 | 0:29:35 | |
who are not deeply, deeply political, who, | 0:29:35 | 0:29:38 | |
you know, we sort of bumble around, but you can certainly feel it. | 0:29:38 | 0:29:42 | |
-Hello there. -You're here. | 0:29:46 | 0:29:48 | |
We need to talk... | 0:29:48 | 0:29:50 | |
'We've been e-mailing, texting, writing, phoning people, | 0:29:50 | 0:29:55 | |
'just to make sure that they are here for this really important vote. | 0:29:55 | 0:30:00 | |
'The biggest problem for us today is making sure they stay,' | 0:30:00 | 0:30:03 | |
because we're expecting a really late vote today. | 0:30:03 | 0:30:07 | |
Well, certain people are here that you don't normally see. | 0:30:07 | 0:30:11 | |
In the old days it used to be Mrs Thatcher, or Lady Thatcher. | 0:30:11 | 0:30:15 | |
Now, I don't know who... | 0:30:15 | 0:30:17 | |
Sometimes Lord Mandelson is a bit of a giveaway. | 0:30:17 | 0:30:21 | |
The doorkeepers are supposed to know every one of the peers by sight. | 0:30:26 | 0:30:30 | |
I've been here two and a bit years | 0:30:30 | 0:30:33 | |
and I think I'm on about 80% ish, on a good day. | 0:30:33 | 0:30:38 | |
But there's always one that you get stuck on. | 0:30:38 | 0:30:42 | |
Er, no... Baroness, no. | 0:30:45 | 0:30:46 | |
'But the ones that catch you out | 0:30:49 | 0:30:51 | |
'are the ones who aren't regular attenders, | 0:30:51 | 0:30:53 | |
'and you won't see them for months and months and months | 0:30:53 | 0:30:56 | |
'and then they show up,' | 0:30:56 | 0:30:58 | |
and you just think, "I have no idea." | 0:30:58 | 0:31:00 | |
I'm relatively weak, I think, on the crossbenchers, and also the bishops. | 0:31:06 | 0:31:11 | |
Because... | 0:31:13 | 0:31:14 | |
..I find that bishops all look very similar. | 0:31:16 | 0:31:18 | |
Dressing up to go into church is familiar to us, | 0:31:23 | 0:31:26 | |
so this isn't so peculiar. | 0:31:26 | 0:31:28 | |
Fortunately now we have allowed mobile phones and other devices | 0:31:28 | 0:31:32 | |
in the chamber on silent, | 0:31:32 | 0:31:34 | |
because it's really difficult to read your watch | 0:31:34 | 0:31:37 | |
with these round your wrists. | 0:31:37 | 0:31:40 | |
Labour need every vote they can get. | 0:31:46 | 0:31:48 | |
Their Chief Whip, Lord Bassam, | 0:31:49 | 0:31:51 | |
is going low-tech to make sure everyone is here. | 0:31:51 | 0:31:55 | |
Like a school register, yes, but it's a rolling one. | 0:31:57 | 0:32:00 | |
When you're at school, you do it at nine o'clock, | 0:32:00 | 0:32:02 | |
or five to nine, I think it was when I was a kid. | 0:32:02 | 0:32:04 | |
Now they come in during the course of the morning | 0:32:04 | 0:32:07 | |
and afternoon and they let me know that they're here. | 0:32:07 | 0:32:10 | |
-Here we are. -Hello. -I'm here. | 0:32:11 | 0:32:14 | |
Ah, fantastic. | 0:32:14 | 0:32:15 | |
I'm always pleased to see you, and I'm always pleased to see David. | 0:32:15 | 0:32:19 | |
Very good. | 0:32:19 | 0:32:21 | |
It's a very simple technique, and it works! | 0:32:21 | 0:32:24 | |
-OK, cheers. -Cheers, thanks a lot. | 0:32:24 | 0:32:27 | |
There are no good excuses. | 0:32:29 | 0:32:31 | |
You know, people do have to look at their diaries and they do have to | 0:32:31 | 0:32:34 | |
think about organising their priorities. | 0:32:34 | 0:32:36 | |
I don't think it's an unreasonable expectation | 0:32:36 | 0:32:38 | |
to hope that they can be here | 0:32:38 | 0:32:39 | |
when pretty much the future of the Labour Party's at stake. | 0:32:39 | 0:32:42 | |
INAUDIBLE CONVERSATIONS | 0:32:44 | 0:32:46 | |
It's amazing what nooks and crannies of this funny building, | 0:32:51 | 0:32:54 | |
that you sometimes find yourself in having a conversation. | 0:32:54 | 0:32:57 | |
I won't tell you where I was earlier this morning... | 0:32:57 | 0:33:00 | |
It was the sort of place that only male peers would be allowed to go, | 0:33:00 | 0:33:04 | |
but we had a very useful conversation there. | 0:33:04 | 0:33:07 | |
-Hiya. -Have you seen Anita? | 0:33:07 | 0:33:09 | |
I haven't seen Anita. | 0:33:09 | 0:33:11 | |
Right, so who've I got left? | 0:33:11 | 0:33:13 | |
Anita, Una is not in yet. | 0:33:13 | 0:33:16 | |
Right, we're all done. | 0:33:16 | 0:33:18 | |
We need to keep them here now, that's the challenge, isn't it? | 0:33:18 | 0:33:21 | |
-That's always the challenge. -Yes, we'll see how it goes. | 0:33:21 | 0:33:24 | |
-I think we're doing OK, though. -Very good. -Right, see you later. | 0:33:24 | 0:33:28 | |
There is a tendency, amongst some members, | 0:33:30 | 0:33:32 | |
to approach the whole issue of voting and division not with head or heart, | 0:33:32 | 0:33:36 | |
but with stomach. | 0:33:36 | 0:33:38 | |
If the stomach is rumbling | 0:33:38 | 0:33:39 | |
and people think they'd like to get away for supper, | 0:33:39 | 0:33:41 | |
it's very difficult to keep them here for a big vote. | 0:33:41 | 0:33:45 | |
So what have we got here? | 0:33:47 | 0:33:49 | |
We've got sirloin of beef, scallops, cured pigeon, | 0:33:49 | 0:33:54 | |
mustard macaroon. | 0:33:54 | 0:33:55 | |
Pulled ham hock... | 0:33:56 | 0:33:58 | |
Very nice. | 0:33:58 | 0:33:59 | |
Smoked salmon, my favourite. | 0:33:59 | 0:34:01 | |
Potted brown shrimps and sourdough. | 0:34:01 | 0:34:05 | |
Sounds like they do well, doesn't it, really? | 0:34:05 | 0:34:07 | |
Hello, darling. | 0:34:11 | 0:34:12 | |
Oh, do you remember where Mummy said I was going to be this evening, | 0:34:12 | 0:34:16 | |
can you remember? We were talking about it. | 0:34:16 | 0:34:19 | |
Yes, that's right, sweetie, yeah, Big Ben and Parliament. | 0:34:19 | 0:34:23 | |
Well done, darling. | 0:34:23 | 0:34:24 | |
Bye, bye, bye. | 0:34:24 | 0:34:26 | |
There's definitely a reason to be here, | 0:34:27 | 0:34:30 | |
but sometimes you're literally just waiting and waiting and waiting, | 0:34:30 | 0:34:33 | |
and then when the vote doesn't happen, you want to die. | 0:34:33 | 0:34:36 | |
I do wish to test the opinion of the House. | 0:34:39 | 0:34:42 | |
Hear, hear. | 0:34:42 | 0:34:43 | |
My Lords, as many are of that opinion will say content. | 0:34:43 | 0:34:46 | |
-Content. -To the contrary, not content. | 0:34:46 | 0:34:49 | |
Not content. | 0:34:49 | 0:34:51 | |
Clear the bar. | 0:34:51 | 0:34:52 | |
Just after six, the vote is called. | 0:34:52 | 0:34:55 | |
The result will show whether rebellious Lords are still prepared | 0:34:55 | 0:34:59 | |
to stand up to the Government. | 0:34:59 | 0:35:01 | |
-Division. -Division! -Division! | 0:35:01 | 0:35:04 | |
BELL RINGS | 0:35:04 | 0:35:05 | |
Sorry! Thank you. | 0:35:15 | 0:35:16 | |
The Government have got a strong whip on, | 0:35:24 | 0:35:26 | |
and I think they will have somewhere in the region of 210 people here. | 0:35:26 | 0:35:31 | |
But, of course, they've all got to vote for the Government. | 0:35:34 | 0:35:37 | |
Not all of them will, hopefully. | 0:35:37 | 0:35:38 | |
It's not just whether we win or not, it's by how many we win, | 0:35:40 | 0:35:45 | |
because the bigger the victory here in the House of Lords, | 0:35:45 | 0:35:48 | |
then the more pressure we can put on the Government. | 0:35:48 | 0:35:51 | |
Supporters of the cross-party amendment flood through the content lobby. | 0:35:51 | 0:35:56 | |
On the Government side, there are some notable absences. | 0:36:02 | 0:36:06 | |
Rather than vote against the Government, I said I'll be absent, | 0:36:08 | 0:36:12 | |
so I'm going to take my wife out for dinner. | 0:36:12 | 0:36:14 | |
Conservative Lord Cormack is going a step further and is voting against | 0:36:18 | 0:36:22 | |
the Government. | 0:36:22 | 0:36:23 | |
Nice to see a Tory face, excellent, thank you very much. | 0:36:25 | 0:36:28 | |
How does it feel walking through that other lobby? | 0:36:32 | 0:36:35 | |
Well, I've done it before. | 0:36:35 | 0:36:36 | |
I've done it before, both in this House and the other one. | 0:36:36 | 0:36:40 | |
If you believe something | 0:36:40 | 0:36:43 | |
is very important, and you're going to stand up for it, | 0:36:43 | 0:36:45 | |
then you have to put your vote with your voice. | 0:36:45 | 0:36:49 | |
My Lords, there have voted | 0:37:02 | 0:37:05 | |
contents 320, | 0:37:05 | 0:37:09 | |
not contents 172, therefore the contents have it. | 0:37:09 | 0:37:14 | |
Hear, hear! | 0:37:14 | 0:37:15 | |
-Good? -Very good. | 0:37:24 | 0:37:25 | |
It's good when you win, | 0:37:27 | 0:37:28 | |
but to win on something as important as this to the trade union member | 0:37:28 | 0:37:32 | |
and the Labour Party is phenomenal. | 0:37:32 | 0:37:35 | |
It really takes you into a different place. | 0:37:35 | 0:37:38 | |
Result. Utterly demoralised, that's the way we like it. | 0:37:38 | 0:37:41 | |
Great news. | 0:37:41 | 0:37:43 | |
I think it is the biggest margin since the election, yes. | 0:37:43 | 0:37:47 | |
But I take no delight in that. | 0:37:47 | 0:37:50 | |
I mean, | 0:37:50 | 0:37:52 | |
I did what I thought I had to do. | 0:37:52 | 0:37:54 | |
The amended bill will now go back to the Commons. | 0:37:56 | 0:38:00 | |
I am very happy, but then, you know, | 0:38:00 | 0:38:02 | |
until you've actually got Royal assent, | 0:38:02 | 0:38:06 | |
complete change to a bill like this, | 0:38:06 | 0:38:09 | |
at the very end of the process, | 0:38:09 | 0:38:11 | |
you can't start cheering and raising a glass in celebration. | 0:38:11 | 0:38:15 | |
Hello, My Lady. | 0:38:24 | 0:38:26 | |
-Morning, Ma'am. -Morning. | 0:38:29 | 0:38:31 | |
-Thank you. -Have a good day. -You too. -Thank you. | 0:38:31 | 0:38:34 | |
'The Lords do say that when I'm in a red coat, the summer's here, | 0:38:36 | 0:38:38 | |
'and they also blame me' | 0:38:38 | 0:38:40 | |
for when it's raining, which isn't right, but that's the way it goes here. | 0:38:40 | 0:38:43 | |
The red coat, though, is only a summer coat, so, as you can see, | 0:38:43 | 0:38:46 | |
it is quite thin. During the winter I have a black woollen coat. | 0:38:46 | 0:38:49 | |
Hello. However, | 0:38:49 | 0:38:50 | |
some of the Lords have said that I should have a red woollen coat. | 0:38:50 | 0:38:53 | |
They've approached Black Rod, he said no. | 0:38:53 | 0:38:56 | |
Hello. | 0:38:56 | 0:38:59 | |
One of the Lords also said I should have some for shorts for the summer. | 0:38:59 | 0:39:02 | |
That's not happening either, not with my legs! | 0:39:02 | 0:39:05 | |
It's late April, and the game of Parliamentary ping pong in which | 0:39:16 | 0:39:19 | |
bills bounce between Commons and Lords is about to begin in earnest. | 0:39:19 | 0:39:23 | |
The Lords' amendment to the trade union bill has been agreed by | 0:39:25 | 0:39:28 | |
the Government and the Labour Party's funding is protected. | 0:39:28 | 0:39:32 | |
But it looks like the immigration bill, and Lord Dubs's amendment, | 0:39:35 | 0:39:38 | |
will go right to the wire. | 0:39:38 | 0:39:40 | |
In these last days of a session, | 0:39:43 | 0:39:45 | |
the atmosphere gets slightly more... charged. | 0:39:45 | 0:39:50 | |
I've called it more poker than ping pong. | 0:39:55 | 0:39:58 | |
It's a mixture, I think, of politics and tactics and timing. | 0:40:00 | 0:40:03 | |
PHONE RINGS | 0:40:16 | 0:40:18 | |
Hello? It's Alf Dubs here. | 0:40:18 | 0:40:20 | |
When? | 0:40:20 | 0:40:22 | |
PHONE RINGS | 0:40:22 | 0:40:24 | |
Hello? | 0:40:24 | 0:40:25 | |
83-year-old Lord Dubs's amendment on child refugees has sparked a national debate. | 0:40:25 | 0:40:30 | |
..committee's there... | 0:40:30 | 0:40:32 | |
PHONE RINGS | 0:40:32 | 0:40:34 | |
What time would suit you? | 0:40:34 | 0:40:36 | |
PHONE RINGS | 0:40:36 | 0:40:37 | |
Ten o'clock at the peers' entrance, yes. | 0:40:37 | 0:40:40 | |
PHONE RINGS | 0:40:40 | 0:40:41 | |
I had an invitation for the 22nd, 23rd and 24th. | 0:40:41 | 0:40:44 | |
..OK, bye-bye. | 0:40:48 | 0:40:51 | |
Oh, God. | 0:40:54 | 0:40:55 | |
-What's that? -It's just an interview for Channel 5, Channel 5 News. | 0:40:55 | 0:41:02 | |
Oh, dear. | 0:41:02 | 0:41:03 | |
PHONE RINGS | 0:41:03 | 0:41:05 | |
'It's ridiculous, really. | 0:41:07 | 0:41:08 | |
'I want a quiet life. | 0:41:08 | 0:41:09 | |
'It's difficult to say no, | 0:41:13 | 0:41:14 | |
'because it helps put pressure on the Government to have more' | 0:41:14 | 0:41:18 | |
sympathetic coverage in the media, so I suppose it's worth doing, | 0:41:18 | 0:41:21 | |
but it's got a bit out of hand. | 0:41:21 | 0:41:22 | |
PHONE RINGS | 0:41:27 | 0:41:29 | |
Judging by the number of messages I've had from people I've never met | 0:41:29 | 0:41:32 | |
before, in terms of public opinion, my sense is it's pretty popular. | 0:41:32 | 0:41:36 | |
I think the public support for this, I hope, | 0:41:36 | 0:41:38 | |
will help to make the Government think again. | 0:41:38 | 0:41:40 | |
It's not just in the palace that Lords and Commons are at loggerheads. | 0:41:42 | 0:41:47 | |
MPs and Lords are limbering up for the annual Parliamentary boat race. | 0:41:47 | 0:41:51 | |
I'm looking forward to it. | 0:41:52 | 0:41:54 | |
It is the one event that the Lords has the edge on the Commons. | 0:41:54 | 0:41:58 | |
Having a captain as youthful | 0:41:58 | 0:42:00 | |
as ours, in Lord Taylor, who's in his 70s. | 0:42:00 | 0:42:03 | |
We have trained. | 0:42:04 | 0:42:05 | |
I know the Lords have been out and they managed to swamp | 0:42:05 | 0:42:08 | |
their boat. | 0:42:08 | 0:42:09 | |
We've had some quite eventful times, you may have heard, | 0:42:11 | 0:42:13 | |
where the Commons' boat sunk and we haven't sunk yet, | 0:42:13 | 0:42:16 | |
but I don't want to be too optimistic. | 0:42:16 | 0:42:20 | |
Always like to try and make sure that those democratically elected | 0:42:22 | 0:42:25 | |
come out on top. | 0:42:25 | 0:42:26 | |
I think we've got some very fit and active people, | 0:42:26 | 0:42:29 | |
so we're very hopeful. | 0:42:29 | 0:42:31 | |
In the Commons they say something like | 0:42:33 | 0:42:35 | |
that bunch of superannuated silly | 0:42:35 | 0:42:36 | |
old idiots who've gone up there, let's forget about them. | 0:42:36 | 0:42:39 | |
And then that adds to the tension. | 0:42:39 | 0:42:41 | |
It's thoroughly good to thrash the other place in everything that one does. | 0:42:42 | 0:42:46 | |
Previously, the Commons have won five races to the Lords' four. | 0:42:48 | 0:42:53 | |
But the Lords are hopeful that this year they will draw even. | 0:42:53 | 0:42:56 | |
OK, both crews. Please make yourselves ready to race. | 0:42:56 | 0:43:01 | |
They're taking their bloody time, aren't they? | 0:43:01 | 0:43:04 | |
Attention. Go! | 0:43:06 | 0:43:08 | |
Come on, the Lords! | 0:43:11 | 0:43:13 | |
The Commons' boat sort of seem to be striking quite well. | 0:43:17 | 0:43:19 | |
There's a bit of a horlicks in the Lords boat, it looks like it. | 0:43:19 | 0:43:22 | |
We seem to have one oar that's not working at all in the Lords boat, | 0:43:22 | 0:43:25 | |
for some obscure reason. | 0:43:25 | 0:43:27 | |
Come on, the Lords! | 0:43:27 | 0:43:30 | |
It looks to me as though the Commons are slightly ahead, | 0:43:30 | 0:43:32 | |
I hope they didn't cheat at the start. | 0:43:32 | 0:43:34 | |
Oh, dear. Well, I'm afraid the Commons have won it, | 0:43:34 | 0:43:37 | |
that's one of those things. I think we had a broken rod. | 0:43:37 | 0:43:41 | |
They probably sabotaged our boat. | 0:43:41 | 0:43:43 | |
But not all is lost for Lord West. | 0:43:48 | 0:43:52 | |
The Government has overruled the public vote. | 0:43:52 | 0:43:55 | |
Boaty McBoatface has been sunk and will instead be called | 0:43:55 | 0:43:59 | |
the RRS Sir David Attenborough. | 0:43:59 | 0:44:02 | |
I'm delighted now they've come down with a name that's sort of acceptable. | 0:44:02 | 0:44:06 | |
I mean, normally ships are named after people who are dead, | 0:44:06 | 0:44:09 | |
not always, and I hope they're not sort of making any judgments about | 0:44:09 | 0:44:14 | |
how long he'll live for. | 0:44:14 | 0:44:15 | |
The decisions have to be made in the other place, | 0:44:15 | 0:44:18 | |
in the Commons, obviously. | 0:44:18 | 0:44:19 | |
That's absolutely right, because they're voted and we're not. | 0:44:19 | 0:44:22 | |
But at least we're able to get things moving and make people think about these problems. | 0:44:22 | 0:44:25 | |
Lift your left arm. | 0:44:25 | 0:44:27 | |
Left arm... | 0:44:27 | 0:44:29 | |
It's like playing in Mum's dressing up box, isn't it? | 0:44:31 | 0:44:33 | |
Yeah. | 0:44:33 | 0:44:34 | |
The final Acts of Parliament will be signed into law in a ceremony | 0:44:34 | 0:44:38 | |
at the end of the session. | 0:44:38 | 0:44:39 | |
But first, the House of Lords' top brass must rehearse. | 0:44:41 | 0:44:45 | |
The actual ceremony is very quick and easy. | 0:44:45 | 0:44:48 | |
It's a bit of a faff to set up. | 0:44:48 | 0:44:51 | |
That's the front, is it? | 0:44:51 | 0:44:53 | |
-That way? -It's just like putting a dressing gown on, really. | 0:44:53 | 0:44:56 | |
But slightly posh, with gold bits. | 0:44:59 | 0:45:03 | |
This is Lord Laming's old one, my lord. | 0:45:03 | 0:45:05 | |
Would you like to try that? | 0:45:05 | 0:45:07 | |
Is there a back and a front? | 0:45:07 | 0:45:09 | |
It doesn't really matter, does it? | 0:45:09 | 0:45:11 | |
I think that's fine. That's perfectly comfortable. | 0:45:11 | 0:45:14 | |
Do you want to pretend you're reading? | 0:45:14 | 0:45:17 | |
We don't want to read, we just need to make sure... | 0:45:17 | 0:45:19 | |
The Clerk of the Crown will read out | 0:45:19 | 0:45:21 | |
the short titles of the act, | 0:45:21 | 0:45:23 | |
and I in each case turn to the Commons and say | 0:45:23 | 0:45:26 | |
in a good loud voice, "La Reine le veult." | 0:45:26 | 0:45:29 | |
'La Reine le veult is simply Norman French for the Queen wishes it.' | 0:45:29 | 0:45:34 | |
La Reine le veult. | 0:45:34 | 0:45:36 | |
Does anyone actually speak Norman French any more, apart from us? | 0:45:36 | 0:45:39 | |
House of Commons Members' Fund Act. | 0:45:42 | 0:45:45 | |
I've done it many times. | 0:45:51 | 0:45:53 | |
As long as it's properly coordinated and done in an appropriate way, | 0:45:53 | 0:45:57 | |
choreographed, then I think it's always good fun. | 0:45:57 | 0:45:59 | |
The trick is getting the timing right, but really, | 0:46:01 | 0:46:03 | |
I mean, how difficult can all nodding at the same time or doing that be? | 0:46:03 | 0:46:07 | |
Sorry, sorry. | 0:46:07 | 0:46:10 | |
Try that one again, sorry! | 0:46:11 | 0:46:13 | |
The first time you were a little bit slow, | 0:46:15 | 0:46:17 | |
a little bit late and a little bit slow. | 0:46:17 | 0:46:20 | |
-Don't worry, David. -We jumped the gun! | 0:46:20 | 0:46:22 | |
The system here's working well. | 0:46:22 | 0:46:25 | |
I jumped the gun. | 0:46:25 | 0:46:26 | |
'I saw them practising this morning,' | 0:46:29 | 0:46:31 | |
I said to them they reminded me of Gilbert and Sullivan, | 0:46:31 | 0:46:34 | |
and we don't want that kind of image. | 0:46:34 | 0:46:36 | |
The second chamber should be looking at how we deal with legislation in | 0:46:36 | 0:46:40 | |
a proper, effective manner, | 0:46:40 | 0:46:42 | |
and this kind of thing distracts from it. | 0:46:42 | 0:46:45 | |
With just days to go before the end of the session, | 0:46:55 | 0:46:57 | |
Lord Dubs is about to make his case to the Lords a second time. | 0:46:57 | 0:47:01 | |
Basically, it will leave unaccompanied child refugees | 0:47:01 | 0:47:05 | |
in a vulnerable position. | 0:47:05 | 0:47:07 | |
None of us would want our own children to be subject to that | 0:47:07 | 0:47:10 | |
sort of environment. | 0:47:10 | 0:47:12 | |
I've been astonished at the amount of popular support there's been, | 0:47:12 | 0:47:16 | |
and as a country with strong humanitarian traditions | 0:47:16 | 0:47:20 | |
I believe we can do better. I beg to move. | 0:47:20 | 0:47:24 | |
Hear, hear! | 0:47:24 | 0:47:25 | |
Peers must now vote on whether, yet again, | 0:47:32 | 0:47:34 | |
they will defy the Government | 0:47:34 | 0:47:36 | |
and bat the amendment back to the Commons. | 0:47:36 | 0:47:38 | |
BELL RINGS | 0:47:38 | 0:47:39 | |
We do not have the right, in my view, as unelected people, | 0:47:43 | 0:47:48 | |
to overrule the Commons. They're the elected ones, | 0:47:48 | 0:47:51 | |
they have the final say and they should always have the final say. | 0:47:51 | 0:47:54 | |
There comes a time when you have to say, thus far, no further, | 0:47:57 | 0:48:02 | |
and the body that has to drop the bat | 0:48:02 | 0:48:07 | |
at the end of the ping pong is the House of Lords. | 0:48:07 | 0:48:10 | |
There is a degree of doubt as to how far either side is going to take the | 0:48:14 | 0:48:18 | |
game of poker. | 0:48:18 | 0:48:19 | |
'I'm not good at predicting these things, | 0:48:23 | 0:48:25 | |
'but if one believes in something, I think one should go on pushing it, | 0:48:25 | 0:48:28 | |
'because all my experience of politics is that if you have | 0:48:28 | 0:48:31 | |
'an issue that's worth it and you keep pushing it,' | 0:48:31 | 0:48:33 | |
quite often in the end something positive will happen as a result. | 0:48:33 | 0:48:37 | |
I'm going to be really honest that I can't quite tell you how it's | 0:48:43 | 0:48:45 | |
looking, even though I've just come out of the voting lobby. | 0:48:45 | 0:48:49 | |
There aren't as many as sometimes when we win by a lot. | 0:48:49 | 0:48:52 | |
It's also later in the evening | 0:48:52 | 0:48:54 | |
and they kind of drop off the later it goes. | 0:48:54 | 0:48:57 | |
My Lords, there have voted | 0:49:04 | 0:49:08 | |
contents 279, not contents 172. | 0:49:08 | 0:49:12 | |
So the contents have it. | 0:49:12 | 0:49:14 | |
We just won, we just won. | 0:49:24 | 0:49:25 | |
That is great, see, House of Lords, rocking. | 0:49:25 | 0:49:29 | |
-Speech! -APPLAUSE | 0:49:29 | 0:49:32 | |
Speech! | 0:49:43 | 0:49:45 | |
HUBBUB OF CONVERSATION | 0:49:45 | 0:49:47 | |
'I'm gratified and delighted that there was such support. | 0:49:56 | 0:49:59 | |
'I think the Government will have a job to dig themselves out of this.' | 0:49:59 | 0:50:03 | |
So I think we may get something, we may win something. | 0:50:03 | 0:50:06 | |
Something, I hope. | 0:50:06 | 0:50:08 | |
Just a few days before the end of the session, | 0:50:15 | 0:50:19 | |
Lord Dubs gets some news. | 0:50:19 | 0:50:20 | |
I haven't come to terms with it yet, you know. | 0:50:20 | 0:50:23 | |
It's only just happened. | 0:50:23 | 0:50:25 | |
I still can't quite believe it, to be honest. | 0:50:25 | 0:50:29 | |
His amendment has been accepted by the Prime Minister. | 0:50:29 | 0:50:31 | |
-Congratulations. -We've won, yes. -Yeah, well, that's very impressive. | 0:50:31 | 0:50:34 | |
I watched Prime Minister's Questions. I just mentioned it to some colleagues. | 0:50:34 | 0:50:37 | |
-Oh, that's good. -You must be delighted. | 0:50:37 | 0:50:39 | |
I'm delighted. I'm absolutely delighted, yes. | 0:50:39 | 0:50:42 | |
Well, your place in heaven is now secure. | 0:50:42 | 0:50:44 | |
My place in heaven! Thank you very much. Thank you very much. | 0:50:44 | 0:50:48 | |
-Will you be joining me? -Well, I'll try. | 0:50:48 | 0:50:50 | |
-Just coming back. I came back last night. -Oh, wow. | 0:50:55 | 0:50:58 | |
I was in the refugee camps. | 0:50:58 | 0:50:59 | |
Met the kids. And, you know, fantastic. | 0:50:59 | 0:51:02 | |
-People are talking about what you're doing here, and... -Oh, well. | 0:51:02 | 0:51:05 | |
-It's wonderful, well done. -Oh, well, thank you very much. | 0:51:05 | 0:51:07 | |
-Fantastic. -Well, look, it's only a small amendment. | 0:51:07 | 0:51:09 | |
-But we're moving them. -Yeah, OK. -In the right direction. | 0:51:09 | 0:51:12 | |
Thanks. | 0:51:12 | 0:51:14 | |
Lord Dubs, are you pleased that the Prime Minister's finally moved, | 0:51:16 | 0:51:20 | |
or are you disappointed that he had to be brought to this position | 0:51:20 | 0:51:23 | |
kicking and screaming? | 0:51:23 | 0:51:24 | |
Well, the outcome is what matters, | 0:51:24 | 0:51:26 | |
and the outcome is that a lot of, | 0:51:26 | 0:51:28 | |
or a number of vulnerable unaccompanied child refugees | 0:51:28 | 0:51:31 | |
in Europe will find safety and a decent home in Britain. | 0:51:31 | 0:51:34 | |
That's what matters. | 0:51:34 | 0:51:35 | |
I'm going to disappear into anonymity after all this. | 0:51:40 | 0:51:44 | |
I can't sustain... Can't sustain this level of excitement, you know? | 0:51:44 | 0:51:50 | |
Can't do it! So a bit of quiet anonymity would do me good. | 0:51:50 | 0:51:54 | |
But Lord Dubs' rest is short-lived. | 0:52:00 | 0:52:03 | |
Only about 350 unaccompanied children would be allowed in before | 0:52:03 | 0:52:06 | |
the Government shut the door again. | 0:52:06 | 0:52:08 | |
He's fighting the decision. | 0:52:10 | 0:52:12 | |
It is now the end of the session. | 0:52:18 | 0:52:21 | |
INDISTINCT SHOUT | 0:52:24 | 0:52:26 | |
'Well, there've been some tense moments in the last few weeks.' | 0:52:28 | 0:52:32 | |
There have never been so many Government defeats | 0:52:32 | 0:52:36 | |
in the modern era. | 0:52:36 | 0:52:37 | |
It's unusual, and it's unprecedented. | 0:52:37 | 0:52:40 | |
Although the Lords has challenged | 0:52:40 | 0:52:42 | |
the Government robustly with amendments | 0:52:42 | 0:52:44 | |
that have left their mark, | 0:52:44 | 0:52:45 | |
all Government bills have been passed into law. | 0:52:45 | 0:52:49 | |
At times, I've felt we were getting very near the edge of that dividing | 0:52:49 | 0:52:53 | |
line between complementary and trashing the Government's business. | 0:52:53 | 0:52:58 | |
I think we've now ended up on the right side of that line, | 0:52:58 | 0:53:02 | |
and that's a very good thing. | 0:53:02 | 0:53:04 | |
Members of the Commons are now summoned to the Lords, | 0:53:07 | 0:53:09 | |
where the bills are formally agreed. | 0:53:09 | 0:53:13 | |
Immigration Act. | 0:53:13 | 0:53:15 | |
La Reine le veult. | 0:53:17 | 0:53:18 | |
Energy Act. | 0:53:20 | 0:53:21 | |
La Reine le veult. | 0:53:23 | 0:53:25 | |
The battle between the two Houses has reached a delicate truce. | 0:53:27 | 0:53:31 | |
But the threat of Lord Strathclyde's review | 0:53:31 | 0:53:34 | |
will still hang over the Lords when the new term starts. | 0:53:34 | 0:53:37 | |
They just need to learn the lessons from this session, | 0:53:38 | 0:53:41 | |
do the scrutiny which the House of Lords is so good at | 0:53:41 | 0:53:45 | |
and the revision, | 0:53:45 | 0:53:46 | |
but not necessarily to be a block to the will of the elected House. | 0:53:46 | 0:53:50 | |
It's May. And the countdown has started to the Queen's Speech, | 0:53:55 | 0:53:59 | |
when the monarch comes to Parliament to open a new session. | 0:53:59 | 0:54:03 | |
Everyone wants a seat. | 0:54:03 | 0:54:05 | |
And the exploding size of the House, now with over 800 members, | 0:54:05 | 0:54:09 | |
becomes impossible to ignore. | 0:54:09 | 0:54:11 | |
It's just luck of the draw, exactly that, the draw. | 0:54:11 | 0:54:15 | |
Here we are at Black Rod's office. | 0:54:15 | 0:54:18 | |
Nicola looks after me very well, | 0:54:18 | 0:54:20 | |
but she's completely fair about the draw, | 0:54:20 | 0:54:22 | |
which is really irksome. | 0:54:22 | 0:54:23 | |
So no matter how much I butter her up, it doesn't make any difference. | 0:54:23 | 0:54:26 | |
The good news is that your daughter | 0:54:26 | 0:54:28 | |
was successful in the eldest daughter's ballot | 0:54:28 | 0:54:30 | |
in the chamber, so she'll have a standing place. | 0:54:30 | 0:54:32 | |
-Lovely. -You weren't successful in the robe ballot, I'm afraid. | 0:54:32 | 0:54:35 | |
No, I never am. So I'm going to have to pay for that. | 0:54:35 | 0:54:37 | |
So that's it, sell another grandchild. | 0:54:37 | 0:54:40 | |
Staff have just a week to turn | 0:54:43 | 0:54:44 | |
the palace from a place of work to a stage set. | 0:54:44 | 0:54:47 | |
She's coming. | 0:54:47 | 0:54:49 | |
The Queen. Elizabeth. | 0:54:50 | 0:54:52 | |
Ma'am! | 0:54:54 | 0:54:55 | |
-What's this? -That's where the... | 0:54:57 | 0:54:59 | |
The thing goes on top of it. | 0:54:59 | 0:55:01 | |
-What thing? -Like, a big sword thing. | 0:55:01 | 0:55:04 | |
This time of year, everyone sort of comes together, | 0:55:06 | 0:55:09 | |
and sort of like mucks in. | 0:55:09 | 0:55:11 | |
You've got to get it done on time. | 0:55:13 | 0:55:15 | |
Have you got the black paint? | 0:55:20 | 0:55:22 | |
-Yeah. -Yeah. | 0:55:22 | 0:55:24 | |
No-one can change the date. | 0:55:24 | 0:55:26 | |
We know when the Queen's coming. | 0:55:26 | 0:55:28 | |
Little room for manoeuvre on this one. | 0:55:28 | 0:55:31 | |
We can't ask her to go around the block a couple of times | 0:55:31 | 0:55:34 | |
while we're not ready. | 0:55:34 | 0:55:35 | |
The Queen's representative in Parliament, Black Rod, | 0:55:38 | 0:55:42 | |
will be the master of ceremonies. | 0:55:42 | 0:55:43 | |
Everybody's very motivated. | 0:55:43 | 0:55:46 | |
All our people who've got a hand in this really want it to be tiptop. | 0:55:46 | 0:55:50 | |
Nobody wants to be picked up on the Black Rod's inspection | 0:55:50 | 0:55:53 | |
for having not done something. | 0:55:53 | 0:55:54 | |
Good morning, sir, how are you? | 0:55:54 | 0:55:57 | |
It doesn't need power washing, | 0:55:59 | 0:56:01 | |
just someone with a bucket and brush | 0:56:01 | 0:56:03 | |
just to get the blobs of bird shit away. | 0:56:03 | 0:56:05 | |
We normally leave him something to find, to be honest with you. | 0:56:07 | 0:56:10 | |
Because as soon as he's found something, he normally moves on to the next room. | 0:56:10 | 0:56:13 | |
He's a stickler for the smallest of detail, | 0:56:13 | 0:56:15 | |
like if there's a screw that we've left on a carpet somewhere, | 0:56:15 | 0:56:18 | |
he'll actually see it from a distance. | 0:56:18 | 0:56:20 | |
I'm not sure if he brings the screws up himself | 0:56:20 | 0:56:22 | |
and leaves them lying about | 0:56:22 | 0:56:24 | |
so he can pick them up, but he's quite funny like that. | 0:56:24 | 0:56:26 | |
And straight lines, we have to have straight lines everywhere. | 0:56:26 | 0:56:30 | |
Ex-military, what do you expect? | 0:56:30 | 0:56:32 | |
From her throne in the Lords, the Queen will announce | 0:56:37 | 0:56:39 | |
the Government's plans for the coming year. | 0:56:39 | 0:56:43 | |
Some expect House of Lords reform to be on the agenda. | 0:56:43 | 0:56:46 | |
Should there be an age limit when they have to retire? | 0:56:49 | 0:56:51 | |
Should there be a certain amount of time that they spend in here? | 0:56:51 | 0:56:54 | |
They say there's too many, | 0:56:54 | 0:56:56 | |
but how do you govern what numbers we have in the House? | 0:56:56 | 0:56:59 | |
I have some ideas, but they're probably best kept to myself. | 0:57:00 | 0:57:03 | |
Hello, Sir. | 0:57:03 | 0:57:04 | |
-Have a good day, My Lord. -Thank you. | 0:57:06 | 0:57:08 | |
Next time - the Queen comes to Parliament. | 0:57:10 | 0:57:13 | |
I am going to get out of my trainers. | 0:57:13 | 0:57:15 | |
-Eventually. -That's my concession for Her Majesty. | 0:57:15 | 0:57:18 | |
But the Palace looks like it's crumbling down. | 0:57:19 | 0:57:22 | |
We're running out of buckets. | 0:57:22 | 0:57:24 | |
Almost every area of the parliamentary estate has had | 0:57:25 | 0:57:29 | |
some type of water damage today. | 0:57:29 | 0:57:31 | |
And Brexit hits the Lords with a bang. | 0:57:31 | 0:57:35 | |
This is much bigger than anything | 0:57:35 | 0:57:37 | |
I've encountered during my political lifetime. | 0:57:37 | 0:57:41 | |
It will open up a firestorm of resentment in the country. | 0:57:41 | 0:57:44 | |
As many of that opinion would say content. | 0:57:44 | 0:57:47 | |
Content. | 0:57:47 | 0:57:48 | |
Are you interested in finding out more about the House of Lords | 0:57:50 | 0:57:53 | |
and the role it plays in the UK's political system? | 0:57:53 | 0:57:56 | |
Go to... | 0:57:56 | 0:57:58 | |
And follow the links to the Open University. | 0:58:00 | 0:58:02 |