House of Commons VIP PEOPLE

Everyone craves greatness.

Everybody likes a winner.

But success isn't a one-man show.

Order. Order!

Behind every star is a team - immensely talented,

powerful in their own worlds, but invisible to us...until now.

These are the stories of the stars

and the teams who strive to make them shine.

This is the world of the VIP People.

This is the House of Commons,

where the people who run this country -

our Members of Parliament, or MPs -

discuss the issues which affect our future.

People like the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.

It's their whole economic plan.

CHEERING

It's under this government we got 800,000 more private sector jobs.

What people forget is this is the alternative to war.

It sounds grand - what is politics? It is about resolving the disputes.

-Order.

-Point of order, Mr Speaker.

Points of order come after statements

and there is a statement now but I'm grateful to the honourable gentleman.

Meet John Bercow. He's the Speaker of the House

and it's his job to make sure that in the debates that take place

in the House of Commons,

everyone gets a fair chance to have their say.

The Speaker also has the tough task of keeping things under control

when the MPs get too rowdy.

Order! Order! Order!

I think if it was a school, it would have to be St Trinian's!

He's so important that he can even tell the Prime Minister off.

The Prime Minister will please withdraw the word "idiot",

it's unparliamentary.

In six days' time,

the Speaker will need to be on top form to keep order

-at the noisiest...

-SHOUTING

# Shut up Just shut up, shut up. #

..most important...

Can I ask the Prime Minister what kind of consultation is it...

..and most controversial event of the parliamentary week -

Prime Minister's Questions,

where ordinary MPs get a one and only chance

to directly grill the Prime Minister.

To successfully preside over Prime Minister's Questions

in seven days' time,

John'll need his network of VIP People to run like clockwork.

From his Diary Secretary to the Trainbearer,

and from the Doorkeeper to his other staff.

Only with their support and help can he ensure that PMQs is a success.

Cameras have never been allowed behind the scenes before

in the corridors of power at the House of Commons.

For the first time we'll see what life in Parliament is really like

for the Speaker and those around him.

So from here, the Leader of the Opposition will speak.

He blames everybody other than himself.

And from this despatch box, this is what they're called.

-From this despatch box, the Prime Minister...

-Yes.

..will speak.

-How utterly pathetic.

-Hear, hear!

And a Speaker...

Order!

I sit in this.

Calm down.

LOUD VOICES

Order! Order! Order!

Each leader has got a strong team there, cheering him on.

He's losing the confidence of the country.

Hear, hear!

As I say, very often, perhaps jeering the other side.

It is, if you like, a kind of spectator sport.

There is only one person who is red around here

and that is Red Ed running...

Hear, hear!

ALL SHOUT

Let's talk to our Political Editor, Nick Robinson, from Westminster.

Nick Robinson is the BBC's Political Editor

and reports regularly from the House of Commons on BBC News,

but, unlike us, his camera has to stay in one place.

The guys on both sides of the House of Commons,

they really believe they can make life better for the country

and they're really angry

because they think the other side are messing it up.

Or, would mess it up.

So, of course, sometimes you look at the behaviour

and think, "Odd way to behave, aren't they behaving like kids?"

Naughty kids in a classroom.

The key to it is, they are fighting for things they believe in.

Order! Quite a bad example is being set by some senior members

to newcomers. There are far too many... Order!

I first met the Speaker, John Bercow, when he was a student.

I remember him, he was an amazingly powerful speaker then

and one of the reasons, I think, he got the job

is because he's a really good orator.

He's someone people listen to.

Being the Speaker of the House of Commons

was once a very dangerous job.

If the Speaker displeased the King,

the Speaker could end up, not just losing his job as Speaker,

but losing his head.

For this reason, a very strange ritual takes place

when the Speaker is elected.

Because it was considered rather a dangerous role,

there was usually a protest.

And members therefore had to drag him to the chair.

A ritual that still continues today.

It's because the Speaker's job was so dangerous

that he was given his own personal bodyguard.

And that tradition lives on with the first of our VIP People,

Jim, the Trainbearer.

It's the second time I've actually taken it out.

On top of other duties, Jim's ceremonial challenge

is to ensure the Speaker's safe passage to the Commons every day

in a procession which also involves Sarah, the Doorkeeper,

and other members of the Speaker's team.

I've been doing this job six months, but I've been working in Parliament

for six years altogether.

The Trainbearer used to be the Speaker's bodyguard.

I'm the first non ex-military Trainbearer.

I've got a ceremonial sword, which I only wear five minutes a day now.

You can see it's real.

It's a very interesting job.

Wearing the outfit took some getting used to.

I was a little self-conscious the first couple of times I wore it.

I have tights and knee-breeches and the shoes with the buckles on.

When we have tours coming round,

it's the Trainbearer's job to bring the tour parties round.

People like to be shown around the State rooms by a man in tights.

So the Speaker has his own personal bodyguard,

but what about protecting Parliament itself?

Security at the House of Commons was breached for the first time ever

a few years ago by pro-hunt protesters.

Keeping out unwanted guests is the job of one of the VIP People,

Doorkeeper, Sarah.

Yeah, security is very tight here, for obvious reasons.

In the Houses of Parliament you need to be very aware of security.

So, bear with me a second. Hello, there...

As a Doorkeeper at the House of Commons,

Sarah's in charge of security and has to make sure

MPs, including the Speaker and members of staff

like Jim the Trainbearer, can go about their work

without the threat of attack from intruders.

All right there, guys?

OK, hold onto that. Straight down that corridor...

Today, Sarah has to make sure only accredited guests

are allowed in to the House of Commons visitors' gallery.

It's like being a bouncer,

you get to wear a better suit than a bouncer, I guess.

Yeah, it's a security role, predominantly.

Hello, sir.

The toughest thing I've had to deal with,

is probably the Rupert Murdoch incident,

that happened in the Select Committee.

We had an incident where a person who was in the gallery

came up and threw a pie in Rupert Murdoch's face

and we were the people that ran in

and helped escort the gentleman out

and we dealt with him outside.

Straight down the corridor and up the staircase.

I've got to make sure the wrong people don't get in

and the right people do.

Remembering 650 MPs' faces is quite a challenge

but we have to differentiate between MPs, staff, the public.

We have to be completely on the ball.

Sarah's security skills are in big demand every Wednesday

at Prime Minister's Questions, when she has to protect

some of the most powerful people in the country

and ensure that unwanted guests are kept out.

You might get a few frustrated people that they can't get in,

but it's just part and parcel

of the job and you deal with that as best you can.

Are you all right? Do you know where you're going with those tickets?

Ensuring that PMQs and everything else runs like clockwork

is the job of the clock maintenance team, run by Paul.

Paul and the clock team are Westminster's metronome,

keeping everyone from the Speaker and the Doorkeeper,

to the Diary Secretary and the Trainbearer,

in fact, both the Houses of Parliament, on track and on time.

In total we look after 2,000 clocks.

500 of those are mechanical ones.

We have to wind up 500 through the course of the week.

We start at seven o'clock in the morning

and we try and get the clocks wound before people are in their offices,

or in the committee rooms.

We get them done by half eight.

We also repair the clocks and maintain them.

You have to be fairly mechanically minded.

Two down, 498 to go.

Those are the smaller clocks taken care of,

but what about the biggest clock in Parliament?

This is the Elizabeth Tower, Westminster, in which sits

the world famous bell, Big Ben.

We're going to be winding up the clock to make sure it goes

and check the time to make sure we're as accurate as we can be.

334 steps up to the belfry.

It usually takes us about ten to 15 minutes to walk up the stairs.

We're now behind the dials.

This is the south dial that looks over Parliament.

They are about 23 feet across.

Just to give you some idea, the minute hand is 14 feet long,

the hour hand is nine feet long.

Every time the clock ticks, every two seconds,

the minute hand moves on two seconds' worth.

In about 35 seconds' time,

what you'll see is the hammer on the third quarter bell,

which is right across the far side,

will lift up and play the first note of 16 notes,

which make the Westminster chimes.

BIG BEN CHIMES

So Big Ben is in safe hands,

but who looks after the Speaker's busy diary?

It's the next of the VIP People, the Speaker's Diary Secretary, Briony.

Briony has the tough task of ensuring that the Speaker

can get through his hundreds of meetings and appointments

with all his support team and still handle Prime Minister's Questions.

I've been working at the Houses of Parliament for five years now.

Good afternoon, Speaker's Office.

I started off in the Visitor Services Team,

and I saw the job advertised

in the Speaker's Office, which I thought sounded interesting.

So, I went for it and here I am.

The Speaker's diary is very busy.

The man often works from 8:30am until after 11 at night.

It happens on a fairly regular basis.

He has meetings back-to-back most days.

You get the occasional break for lunch, but that's about it.

Shall we start with the diary?

A few things for you, Mr Speaker.

History graduate Briony has her work cut out

as the Speaker has so many important appointments,

from meeting world leaders and royals,

to attending charity events in aid of issues like child autism.

We'll probably need to think about events taking place next year

because we're pretty much booked up now until the end of 2012.

The buck stops with Briony if John isn't

in the right place at the right time.

I'm not really sure the Speaker understands how to take a break,

unless it involves watching some tennis, maybe.

He seems to have limitless reserves of energy

and is happy to keep going. If he has gaps in the diary,

he'll look for things to fill them with.

There are just three days left until the big event

of the parliamentary week,

Prime Minister's Questions

and every one of the Speaker's VIP People

will have to work hard to ensure it all goes off smoothly.

Still to come - Jim the Trainbearer get nerves

before giving a tour of Parliament.

It's only the second tour I've done.

And things get rowdy in the House of Commons.

Let the answer be heard.

The Speaker's House,

where John gets to live and work while he's the Speaker,

is a beautiful, ornate and historic building

in the Palace Of Westminster, and today, Jim the Trainbearer

is giving a tour.

The only problem is that he's only given one tour before,

so there's some last minute swotting-up to do.

I'm just about to go downstairs and let in a party of 40 teachers

that I'm going to be taking on a tour of Speaker's House.

It's about the role of the Speaker and the history of Speaker's House.

I generally have a quick flick through it beforehand

and try and memorise dates, when it was built and so on.

This is the State Bedroom, with the State Bed behind us there.

The purpose of the State Bedroom was the heir to the throne

would sleep in the State Bed, the night before their coronation,

to be as close to Westminster Abbey as possible,

so they didn't get seized to prevent them being crowned.

What are the main duties of your job?

The main duties of my job?

There's the ceremonial element, I'm the Speaker's Trainbearer.

In the procession every day, I go into the Chamber with the Speaker.

It seemed to go OK, I think.

I think I managed to answer all the questions all right

and remember most of the things I try to remember to tell people.

I could have made something up, no-one would be any the wiser.

Mr Speaker...

I don't think the Prime Minster gets it about the...

The highlight of the week is Prime Minister's Questions, or PMQs.

First of all, Mr Speaker, I'm not going to get a lecture in getting it

from a party that was in office for 13 years

when all of these things took place.

MUSIC: "Mission Impossible" Theme

The build-up to PMQs begins a few days before the big event

at the Table Office.

MPs rush in to enter their names in a draw

which offers the lucky winners a chance to directly ask

the leader of the country a question in the House of Commons.

Hundreds of MPs enter their names in the ballot

just to have a chance of being one of the lucky few who win each week.

You've got to be in it to win it!

Next, the names are put into a computer and a lucky few

are randomly selected, National Lottery style.

And here we go...

That's the top 15 who've come out

and the names below are the other members who entered the shuffle,

but weren't successful this time round.

Fiona O'Donnell is the Labour MP

who's lucky enough to have come first in the ballot.

It's a bit like entering a raffle.

I'm not very lucky usually in raffles.

It's the same with Prime Minster's Questions.

You have to wait and see whether or not your name is drawn.

It's great to be top of the list this time.

Further down the list is the Liberal Democrat MP, Duncan Hames.

I'm really pleased.

I put in for this draw every week.

There's only a couple of times in two years

where my name has come out of the hat.

So I'm really looking forward to it.

It's the morning of Prime Minister's Questions and Parliament's buzzing

ahead of today's big showdown

between the Government and the Opposition.

It's always a big day when Prime Minister's Questions takes place.

That is scheduled for today, at midday.

There is a tingle of expectation

and excitement amongst colleagues in Parliament.

The VIP People are busy preparing

for their roles in the Speaker's Procession,

an historic march taking the Speaker from his quarters

to the House of Commons,

where he'll preside over Prime Minister's Questions.

The hardest thing is the ceremonial bit.

It's so unlike anything I've ever done before.

I had to have marching practice when I first started

because in the Speaker's Procession we have to march in step,

which is not something I've ever done in any of my previous jobs.

When the procession sets off in the morning,

I shout, "Time to go, Mr Speaker,"

and then the lead Doorkeeper will lead out of the door

and we all march in step.

Marching as you would in the Army, I suppose.

Arm swinging like this.

While Jim the Trainbearer has to protect the Speaker,

Sarah the Doorkeeper's task is to warn passers-by

to stay out of the Speaker's way

because nobody's allowed to stray into his path during the procession.

There's a lot of doors that go off onto this lobby.

You don't want to be coming out of here, which I have done previously,

as a Doorkeeper, walking out into the Speaker's Procession.

You don't really want to do that.

You're just checking passes,

making sure people with paper passes are escorted.

The Speaker's Office is just down there.

We're at a crossroadss here.

He approaches and you'd go, "Speaker!"

Just like that.

What was that, Sarah?

Speaker!

I thought that's what you said!

With just 45 minutes to go until Prime Minister's Questions,

the crowd outside the House of Commons grows,

as the public gather to catch a glimpse of the Speaker's Procession.

As MPs aren't allowed to read their questions from papers,

Liberal MP Duncan is frantically trying to memorise his question,

which is about the welfare of school children around the world.

I'm quite excited, actually.

I've learned my question now, so I feel a lot more confident.

I've been practising it and this is the question that I've written

and whilst I won't be holding this when I ask the question,

I'll be spending quite a lot of time with it for the next hour

as I try and commit as much of it to memory as possible.

Labour MP Fiona, meanwhile,

has decided to ask a question about rising food prices,

which are affecting people in her constituency.

Do you know what it is?

It's thinking about your constituents and people back home.

It is such a great opportunity, not wanting to mess up for them

and to make sure I raise something that they'll think,

I didn't waste the opportunity.

Jim heads up to the Speaker's study to get him ready for the procession.

Do I feel a slight nervous sensation?

Yes, I do, because obviously it's a big and important occasion.

It's the clash of the titans between the two major party leaders.

The opportunity for any Member of Parliament to rise and try to

ask the Prime Minister a question on behalf of his or her constituents.

At exactly 26 and a half minutes past 11,

the procession makes its way to Parliament

for Prime Minister's Questions.

Time to go, Mr Speaker.

Once they've set off,

Sarah the Doorkeeper prepares to warn passers-by

of the Speaker's approach.

Speaker!

What a lovely voice. Good job, Sarah.

Speaker!

Hats off, strangers!

A policeman shouts, "Hats off, strangers!"

as the Speaker comes through the lobby in a time-honoured tradition

requesting that anyone wearing headgear takes it off

in respect of the Speaker.

It's so far, so good for Jim as well,

as he's managed to stay in step with the rest of the procession.

Go on, Jim!

BIG BEN CHIMES

As Big Ben strikes 12,

Prime Minister's Questions finally begins

and MP Fiona O'Donnell kicks off proceedings.

Order, questions to the Prime Minister. Fiona O'Donnell.

Question number one, Mr Speaker.

Mr Speaker, food prices rose 4.6 % between March last year

and this year.

I understand why, so can the Prime Minister spare me the lecture

and tell the House, what is he doing about food inflation?

It's job done for Fiona, over to the PM.

On the issue of food inflation,

first of all, I would make a point that inflation is now falling

in our country, which is extremely good news.

Order! Government backbenchers who've been here some years

ought to have grasped by now that it's not the responsibility

of the Leader of the Opposition to answer,

so they should pipe down and try to be good boys, if they can.

Ed Miliband.

It's a typically raucous afternoon in the House of Commons

and the Speaker is having to work hard as usual,

as the Leader of the Opposition, Ed Miliband,

gets stuck into the Prime Minister.

He simply can't act in the national interest.

Everybody can see what is happening here.

Why is it right to have this judge-led approach

to the scandal in the press, but wrong for the scandal in the banks?

Now what's required is swift enquiries, swift action,

swift legislation.

The Speaker has to step in again as rowdy MPs

are wasting valuable Parliamentary time.

Order! Members must calm down.

I said it to Government backbenchers,

I'm now saying it to Opposition backbenchers.

-Let the answer...

-The clock's ticking down and MP Duncan

is facing the prospect of time running out

before he gets to ask his question.

Can the Prime Minister confirm this Government's commitment to science?

Can the Prime Minister give an assurance

to the 100,000 Ulster Bank customers?

There are 117 manufacturing jobs lost in my constituency.

With two minutes to go though, he finally gets his chance. This is it.

Can he ask his question from memory without reading it?

Mr Duncan Hames.

Mr Speaker, as the Chair of the UN's high-level panel

on the millennium development goals,

how will the Prime Minister restart efforts

to ensure that all girls and boys around the world

get to go to school?

No notes and he got his question in, just under the wire.

We want all of civil society, schools, parents and teachers,

to join in with this magnificent effort.

With Prime Minister's Questions over,

our two MPs have mixed feelings

about the response they got from the Prime Minister.

I was hoping that he would actually give some detail

of what he's going to do.

It was very difficult a question to try closing down,

to actually answering the question that you're asking.

I tried to do that but he still managed to get out of it.

Thanks, bye.

MP Duncan, meanwhile, is relieved to have got his question in

just in the nick of time.

That was always a risk. My colleagues were reassuring me.

They were following how we were going down the order paper

and seemed confident I was going to get in.

We were quite near the end, so, it would've been

very disappointing if after all that, we'd missed out.

It's been a raucous Prime Minister's Questions,

but the Speaker has successfully managed to preside over it

and keep order.

Order! Members must calm down.

It was very lively and as you put it,

intense Prime Minister's Questions, which I think was to be expected.

Let the answer be heard. The Prime Minister.

Had to work moderately hard to keep order.

I wouldn't say it was completely out of control,

but there was quite a lot of noise and I did feel the need,

as you will probably have noticed,

on a number of occasions, to intervene.

They should pipe down and try to be good boys, if they can.

As most weeks, it was a frantically busy,

non-stop seven days in Parliament for the Speaker, but somehow,

through the hard work, commitment

and support of the VIP people around him,

they've managed to make it a resounding success.

I meet lots of politicians around the world,

including Speakers in other countries, who say to me,

"Well, Mr Speaker, we wish that our Prime Minister had to come every week

"to answer questions

"and we admire the fact that that's what happens in the United Kingdom."