14/06/2017 House of Commons

Welcome to Westminster. I will try to guide you through events in

Parliament this afternoon we will bring you coverage of the ceremony

of approbation and then we will see some of the first MPs being sworn

in. In the House of Lords, Pier started swearing in yesterday and

will continue doing so later today. I am joined by Simon Vaughan. The

man with all the information at his fingertips. I very much more sombre

mood in Westminster today and in Parliament because of the terrible

fire in west London. That fire was a reminder that the Kensington

constituency whilst it is certainly home to some very rich people, some

well known people such as David Cameron, it also contains some of

the poorest wards in London. A very mixed constituency. This afternoon,

we will see the Royal commission acting on behalf of the Queen. They

will take their seats in the Lords, dispatch Black Rod to the Commons.

We will cure the Queen's approval of the choice of speaker as John

Bercow. In-turn, the Speaker will ask for the traditional rights and

privileges of the Commons to be confirmed. The MPs will be returned

to the Commons. He left the Commons to go up to the Lords as Speaker

elect and will return as Speaker. He will start to swear MPs in, starting

with himself and then the father of the House, Ken Clarke. There are 643

MPs to swear in. The Sinn Fein MPs will not be taking their seats. What

is very obvious at Westminster is the power play going on between the

Conservatives and the DUP. As they look to put that Coalition together,

not a formal Coalition, really just an agreement. Arlene Foster is not a

Westminster MP, but Nigel Dodds and Gregory Campbell are. At Westminster

yesterday, not going into the Commons, Sinn Fein MPs they are.

Some new ones. Alicia McCallion on the left, the new MP for Foyle. And

Michelle Golden who won back Fermanagh South Tyrone from the

Ulster Unionists. I am joined by a representative of the Institute for

Parliament. And Mark Darcy. Starting with you, Mark, the Coalition in

2010 was put together at midnight on the fifth day after the general

election. We are past that and we can't reach an agreement with the

DUP. What is going on? It seems they believe the agreement is now 98.5%

complete. They are also I think positing almost out of respect for

the awful events which have happened with the fire still ongoing in

London. They don't want to try and have an announcement of a new

government against such a terrible background. So there is also I think

a respectful pause taking place in the public part of the political

process. Nobody really believes this agreement is not going to happen.

It's such a win-win for the Democratic Unionist Party that I

think they would have to do the sums huge and undetected obstacle for

that not to go ahead and for the State Opening of Parliament to

proceed in due course. That is the key phrase. I will come back to some

of the things that may be happening as a result of that agreement. We

remember the minority government of 1974 - 1979. Give us an idea of what

that Parliament was like in terms of hours and faults? The House of Lords

played their part in that Parliament. What was it like?

Parliament of considerable attrition and extreme whipping on both sides.

On one side, Labour's deputy Chief Whip Walter Harrison. On the other

side, Jack Bernard Wetherall orchestrating parliamentary tactic

and counter tactics. Each vote could be a problem for the government.

People were being desperately ill. There was quite an attrition rate. A

lot of MPs died during that Parliament.

Mr John Bercow, to be there once again, the amendment will be a Royal

commission. Lord Fowler having briefly sat on rule sack as Lord

Speaker will now be one of the Royal Commissioners. Without going into

all the details of the vote of confidence in 1979, which we also

discovered this morning we both listened to on the radio was years

ago, what was the immediate result? Labour lost by a single vote. As a

result, James Callaghan resigned and there was a general election. Does

that happen today? If there is a vote of confidence and the

government lose by one vote, does the government resign straightaway?

The thing which has changed since 1979 was the introduction of the

fixed term Parliament act in 2011. And what that does is regulates the

conditions on which you can have an early general election. So the next

election is now scheduled for May 2022. If at any point before that

the government were to lose a vote of no-confidence using the specific

wording set out in the act, you then have a 14 day period following that

vote in which attempts can be made to form a new government which then

has to demonstrate it can win the confidence of the House. And that

government could be led by the Leader of the Opposition or it could

be another Conservative Minister. So that is one method. It is 14 days

cooling off period, is that right? You don't immediately have the

defeated Prime Minister heading to the palace, as happened in 1979, to

secure an election. There is a chance to form a new government

without that. Let's remind ourselves of the events of yesterday when John

Bercow was re-elected Speaker of the House of Commons.

Just going through the lobby from the Speaker's offers. Before I take

the chair as Speaker elect, I wish first to thank the House for the

honour that is again the stored upon me. I am aware that it is the

greatest honour it can give to any of its members. I pray I shall

justify its continuing confidence and I propose to do all within my

power to preserve and to cherish its best traditions. Back in the Lords,

we await the arrival of the Royal commissioners. There is a second way

of creating an election and that was the one we saw in April. We vote for

an election in the House of Commons? Exactly. That is the second route

laid out under the fixed term Parliament act, but you need a two

thirds majority. Taking the first one, there is a vote of confidence,

the government loses and there is a 14 day cooling off period, can

Labour form a government in this parliament? There are two routes to

try to do that. One is to go it alone and dear everyone else to vote

down their programme for government. And the other is to build up

alliances for key votes such as our budget and the Queen's Speech. If

they can get one of those things, they could attempt to be a minority

government for a while. The Royal commissioners take their seats. The

same members of the commissioners yesterday. Party leaders from House

of Lords. Like yesterday, Black Rod comes to

the Commons commission. The Lords Commissioners desire immediate

attention in the House. Like yesterday, Black Rod heads off to

the Commons. One of 14 Black Rods in the world. Australia, Canada, New

Zealand. Slightly surprising in New Zealand because there is no upper

house and Senate. Coming back to you on the formation. It is just

possible to form a Labour Government? It is conceivable. The

issue would be, could they survive and govern? Code to get the

legislation they needed to get through? At the moment, it is hard

to see the DUP prepared to support a government headed by Jeremy Corbyn.

In the past, he has worked with Sinn Fein. He famously invited Gerry

Adams to the Commons in the 1980s. That makes the arrangement very

difficult to sustain. I don't see they would necessarily do so. But

other things could happen. Do you think the fixed term Parliament act

makes it easier for a minority government to power are less easy

than the old system? It means the Prime Minister can no longer

effectively see, back me on a particular vote or I shall resign

and trigger an early election. Awaiting the arrival of Black Rod.

The House is much emptier than yesterday. All the spirit of the new

term. People happy and gossiping. No SNP members. And I think no Liberal

members. This is very much a lesser ceremony of the two days. Black Rod.

Black Rod has been announced. The Speaker elect is sitting in his

chair. He will be back next week. Mr Speaker elect and members of the

House of Commons, the Lords who are authorised by virtue of Her

Majesty's commission to give royal approval to the election of a

speaker desire the presence of this honourable house. In the House of

Peers. Well, you can be word perfect every time. They are going to carry

the mace in a very different way to normal. It is called a Kimble,

rather like a baby. His predecessor did carry on like a baby. Because

the Speaker is not fully the Speaker, use only the Speaker elect

at the moment, the House is not fully constituted and so the mace is

carried in a different manner. This occasion is the only time you will

see that. And MPs are back to the House of lords. I interrupted you.

Please continue. As I was saying, in the past, the Prime Minister always

kind of had the ability to threaten an election if they didn't win votes

on one particular issue, which could be quite ineffective way of keeping

backbenchers and other parties in line. The principal bar doorkeeper

of the Commons is heading the procession. Still a goodly number of

MPs going through. As discussed, the other thing the fixed term

Parliament potentially enables is a change of government in midterm

without need for an election. We have spoken of the formal

no-confidence motion that triggers an election, but a government could

be defeated on other things that are still by Convention treated as

confidence matters, including indeed their the Queen's Speech and

possibly budgets and votes of supply as well.

That minority Government was defeated quite a few times. I was

just looking at the figures and I think it was around 60 times that

the Labour governments of Wilson and Callaghan were defeated in the

comment including votes on budgets. They lost total income tax rates,

VAT and so on but those were not treated as resignation matters. The

Royal commission welcomes the Commons. The Commons spell in

return. -- bow in return. Prime Minister and Leader of the

Opposition are present. My Lords, I have to squeeze your

Lordships that in obedience to the Royal command, Her Majesty's

faithful Commons have, in the exercise of their undoubted rights

and privileges, proceeded to the election of a speaker and that's

their choice has fallen on myself. I therefore presented myself at your

lordship's bar and submit myself with all humility for Her Majesty's

gracious approbation. Mr Akash, we are commanded to assure you that Her

Majesty is awfully certain of your zeal in the public service and of

your efficiency to execute the arduous duties which have faith for

Collins have selected you to discharge that Her Majesty does most

readily approve and confirm you as their speaker. My Lords, I submit

myself with all humility and gratitude to Her Majesty's gracious

commands. It is now my duty in the name of and on behalf of of the

Commons of the United Kingdom to lay claim by humble position to Her

Majesty to all their ancient and undoubted rights and privileges,

especially to freedom of speech in debate, to freedom from arrest and

two free access to Her Majesty when ever occasion shall arise. And that

the most favourable construction shall be put upon all their

proceedings. With regard to myself, I pray that if in the discharge of

my duties I shall inadvertently fall into any error, it may be imputed to

myself alone and not to Her Majesty's most faithful Commons. Mr

Speaker, we have at further in command to inform you that Her

Majesty does most readily confirm all the rights and privileges which

have ever been granted to or conferred upon the Commons by Her

Majesty or any of her royal predecessors. With respect to

yourself, sir, though Her Majesty is sensible that you standing no need

of such assurance, Her Majesty will ever replace the most favourable

construction up on your words and actions.

Black Rod very keen that his charges in the Commons to their bowing at

the right time. You could probably cure his commands there and it has

to be said the Royal Commissioner, Royal Commissioners, after three

goals, have managed to synchronise the doffing. They probably won't

have to do much more for a little while unless, of course, this

parliament were to end very suddenly. Mark, the thing that

occurs to me is that people think, what on earth is going on while

there is a terrible fire in London? We have had the Manchester atrocity,

the London Bridge attack, parliament has not been sitting to comment on

these things. The Labour leader has in fact been calling for there to be

a kind of informal opportunity for MPs to question ministers, to go and

sit in a committee room and question them there in a kind of informal way

because until Parliament properly gets going, the first thing it has

to do is listen to debate, vote on the Queen's speech, it can't really

do anything else. They can't speak until they have taken the oath, of

course. Yes, so this would have to be company informal, not proper

parliamentary proceedings. MPs waving at people in the central body

rather cheerily including the Prime Minister and the Leader of the

Opposition. Theresa Villiers going through there, former Northern

Ireland Secretary. She only held onto her seat by 356. Lots of

children gathered in the Central lobby today. I would not be

surprised if the Speaker were to use the opportunity now to say

something. He is perhaps the one person who can. The Sergeant is now

carrying the mace in the approved way. It will take its place on the

table. The hind Jeremy Corbyn, Emily Thornbury, the Shadow Foreign

Secretary. And Damian Green, who appears to be Theresa May's shadow

now in Government to make sure she does all the right steps. Verse

Secretary of State, indeed. Yes, some might think she is held captive

by the Cabinet at the moment. You might think that, I could not

possibly comment. Certainly, this is not a moment when the Cabinet can

easily be disposed of by a Prime Minister. Yes. Now, we talked about

the DUP agreement etc. There seems to be top of a lot of stuff from the

Conservative manifesto being thrown out. Have you heard any thing, what

is going to happen on social care, fuel allowance for the elderly, fox

hunting, the immigration pledge, grammar schools, maybe others? All

sorts of things are subject to negotiation. Until we see the final

agreement, we cannot be sure what is in what is out. But there are

clearly a number of things. The social care proposals, the so-called

dementia tax, and the idea of cutting the ridicule allowance with

some pensioners were particularly unpopular and MPs found there were

very bad reaction to those so a lot of Theresa May's all MPs would not

mind. The Speaker will now take the chair. As speaker, wearing his gown.

Only the clerk of the Commons wearing his wig. The other two

clerks remain witless. Order. I have to report that this House has been

in the House of Lords where the Her Majesty by her Royal Commissioners

has been pleased to approve the choice made of myself for the office

of Speaker. Here here! Thank you (!) I have, in your name and on your

behalf, maize claim by humble petition to Her Majesty to all your

ancient and undoubted rights and privileges. Particularly to freedom

of speech in debate, freedom from arrest, and freedom of access. To

Her Majesty whenever occasion shall require. And that's the most

favourable construction shall be put upon all proceedings. All these, Her

Majesty by her Commissioners, has been pleased to confirm in as ample

manner as they have ever been granted or confirmed by herself or

by any of her royal predecessors. My first duty to the House is to report

my respectful acknowledgement and grateful thanks for the great honour

you have conferred upon me in placing me in the chair. I must now

call on the members of the House at causing it to the usual custom to

take the oath of allegiance or to a firm at the House first doing so

myself. I do solemnly, sincerely,

and truly declare and affirm, that I will be faithful and bear

true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her heirs

and successors, according to law. MPs can take the oath on the new

Testament, the old Testament, the two combined, the Koran, the grout,

big eater, the Welsh Bible, the Gaelic Bible, King James Bible,

Jerusalem Bible, Mormon bible, Jerusalem Bible, the Torah and the

Hindu holy book. A full range. Some of those books must not be touched

and they are in slipcovers. I should remind honourable members that until

they take the author or affirm, they must not sit during any vote in any

division of the House and will not receive any salary. The arrangements

for swearing in our set out on the information sheet and a guidance

note is also available from the table and vote officers. I propose

to call first the father of the House, then members of the Cabinet,

then members of the Shadow Cabinet, then all Privy Council is not

included in those two groups wherever they may be sitting and

then other ministers. Thereafter, I shall call other honourable members

according to the Parliament of their first entry or, for those with

broken servers, that of most recent entry. The first batch will be those

who have been members since before the 2010... In the House of Lords,

very briefly, the group of bishops, I don't know what the common name

for a group of bishops is, but 27 bishops are signing into the House

of Lords. They are also taking the oath of allegiance. One presumes

they are taking the oath of allegiance on the Bible. And they

also are continuing... And will continue to do so and other members

of the House of Lords will take the oath and, of course, they are taking

it on the Bible and many other members of the House of Lords will

take it on the Bible and some members will affirm. Back in the

Commons, the Speaker is telling us... Oh, no, in the Lords, there is

the only woman bishop in the House of Lords so far, the

However, if required, we will sit for swearing in at 2pm on the day of

the Queen's speech. I am not in a position to die of old any further

information on that matter. -- to die of old shed any further

information. I hope members will come forward in an orderly manner. I

remind members that swearing in as a proceeding of the House is recorded

by the television cameras and that anything said or done by members may

appear on television or be picked up by microphones. It will assist the

broadcasters if new members state their name and constituency when

they come to the dispatch box. Progress will depend, of course, and

the number of members wishing to swear in at any particular time. I

advise members to watch the annunciator is to establish progress

and to speak to their whips. In a moment, we will begin this process

and do so, as I indicated, a few moments ago, with the father of the

House. Just before that, I want to make a very, very, very short

statement. All of us will be aware of and

horrified by the tragic fire which engulfed the vast majority of an

enormous block of flats in London in the early hours of this morning.

Colleagues, it is not possible to treat of that matter in the way that

we otherwise I'm sure would wish to do in the chamber today. The

government is very sensitive to the concern that exists on this subject

and my very clear understanding is that arrangements are in hand for a

meeting with the relevant minister to take place within the precincts

of the Palace of Westminster. That meeting can be attended by

colleagues gravely concerned about this matter and no doubt questions

can be put to the Minister, and answers such as here she is able to

give will be provided. It will not be a proceeding Parliament. That

would not be possible under our standing orders. Nor is it possible

after I have spoken for anybody else to say anything. I am sure this is

on behalf of each and every one of you in this chamber, I want to offer

our condolences to the families and friends of the victims of this

unimaginable and horrific disaster. I won't also, I am sure with your

concurrence, to offer the warmest and most effusive thanks to our

magnificent emergency services for coping as best they can in this

horrendous situation. I hope colleagues will understand if we

have to leave it there for now. Thank you. Let us now begin and we

do so appropriately with the father of the House. The Right honourable

and learn a gentleman, the Member for Rushworth. We wondered if the

Speaker might be able to find a way to talk about the terrible events

today and indeed he has done so. I swear by Almighty God

that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance

to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her heirs and successors,

according to law. Ken Clarke, the father of the House,

47 years service in the House of Commons. He took the chair yesterday

for the election of the Speaker. And today he takes the oath immediately

after the Speaker. I swear by Almighty God

that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance

to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her heirs and successors,

according to law. The Prime Minister, Theresa May. And

we will see the members of the Cabinet swearing in first. Then

other senior members of the Commons and so it goes on and will be a long

queue to swear in. And it will take place over the next few days. They

will probably try to finish swearing and all members by Friday.

I swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful

and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth,

her heirs and successors, according to law.

I swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful

and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth,

her heirs and successors, according to law.

I swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful

and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth,

her heirs and successors, according to law.

That was Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary. Very narrow majority in

Hastings. I swear by Almighty God

that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance

to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her heirs and successors,

according to law. Justine Greening, MP for Putney,

Education Secretary. Her majority was very considerably reduced in

Putney. I swear by Almighty God

that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance

to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her heirs and successors,

according to law. Jeremy Hunt, and number of those who

have retained their post. I swear by Almighty God

that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance

to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her heirs and successors,

according to law. I swear by Almighty God

that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance

to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her heirs and successors,

according to law. Andrea Leadsom. If you would rather

see this without commentary, please logon to BBC Parliament online. On

the television, we will continue with commentary. Log on online

annual have all the swearing in which will continue until the end of

the week in both houses without commentary. Mark, some of these

people might not have expected to be back in the Cabinet had things gone

differently in the election? There was certainly a lot of chatter

during the election that Philip Hammond wasn't going to continue in

number 11 Downing St and may have been ousted from the Treasury,

bolstered by the fact that he wasn't put up for a lot of economic

announcements during the campaign. Of the Prime Minister is now in such

a weakened position that she can't really afford to drop people from

the Cabinet unless they want to go. I swear by Almighty God

that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance

to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her heirs and successors,

according to law. Chris Grayling remains Transport

Secretary. That is the Chief Whip, Gavin Williamson, shaking hands with

the Speaker. I swear by Almighty God

that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance

to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her heirs and successors,

according to law. Patrick McLoughlin, chair of the

Conservative Party, and before him was the Business Secretary Greg

Clark. Let's return a little bit to the rigours of minority government.

That Labour Government from 1974 until 1979, it lost a lot of votes

in the Commons? Yes, as we were discussing earlier, a total of

around 60 in that five-year period. Including on some quite significant

things. Faults on tax rates and devolution legislation among them.

I swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful

and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth,

her heirs and successors, according to law.

I government without a majority, that is the risk of a run. And of

course the period where the minority government of James Callaghan didn't

lose many votes was for the 18 months or so of the Liberal and

labour pact, a sort of precursor of the confidence and supply agreement

we expect to see between the Conservatives and DUP. Some votes

you can lose and it is annoying for the government, but you continue in

office? Yes, what is a resignation matter has always been to some

extent more of a matter of interpretation than a fixed

convention. There are some things that everyone would accept our

resignation matters, so anything with the word confidence

no-confidence in the motion. The government who loses that can't

really survive. And the general interpretation is that a government

that loses the vote that comes after the Queen's Speech essentially gives

approval of eyes for the content of that Queen's speech. That has

historically been treated as a confidence matter as well. Michael

Gove, returned to the Cabinet as Environment Secretary. After him,

David Davis, the Brexit secretary. I swear by Almighty God

that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance

to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her heirs and successors,

according to law. So is there a and opposition

suddenly disposed to putting down confidence motions? I think you need

to be careful. Margaret Thatcher put down several before she finally won

one. If you are doing it every five minutes, it kind of loses its effect

a little. Wait for a moment and try to engineer the kind of crisis that

might peel off some individual Conservative MPs considerably or the

DUP. David Mundell, the Scottish Secretary, no longer the only

Conservative MP in Scotland. He has all clutch of colleagues. Ruth

Davidson has made it very plain that she doesn't agree with the Prime

Minister on everything. She is looking for a soft Brexit and is

very interested to see how the deal with the DUP might go, isn't she?

Yes, indeed. With Davidson has been using the language of open Brexit. I

don't think she is clarified the particular differences she has with

the Prime Minister. Clearly that group of Scottish Conservatives, if

the act has a block, and that is not a given, we would have some

leveraged over the government since the majority, even with the DUP,

will be so narrow. You are just back from Edinburgh. What has been so

peculiar about this election, maybe it has been going on for some time,

is that really there was an English general election, a Scottish

election and one in Northern Ireland. And also in Wales. The

Scottish election was to some extent dominated by different issues,

namely the question of Scottish independence. It was quite

interesting and odd in some ways. The SNP was trying to downplay the

extent to which that was the key question at this election. Nicola

Sturgeon cold earlier this year for there to be an independence

referendum before the end of the Brexit negotiations. Of the SNP seen

too soft on its position on that. And went into this campaign and

wanting to talk about other things like opposition to austerity. The

Conservatives really made independence central question and

campaign very hard as the party of the union. While they lost seats in

England, the Conservatives made some pretty substantial gains on the

basis of that in Scotland. I do solemnly, sincerely,

and truly declare and affirm, that I will be faithful and bear

true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her heirs

and successors, according to law. Jeremy Corbyn, the Leader of the

Opposition, affirming. And no other members of the Shadow Cabinet.

I do solemnly, sincerely, and truly declare and affirm,

that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen

Elizabeth, her heirs and successors, according to law.

Nick Brown, the Chief Whip, followed by Emily Thornberry, the Shadow Home

Secretary. Tony Banks, the former Labour MP famously crossed his

fingers whilst taking the oath of allegiance to the crime, he was of

course a Republican. You may have heard the Speaker warning members

earlier they are now on national television and that is one of the

reasons why. He finished his life rather briefly as Lord Stratford.

That gave him a wonderful experience in America brew they thought he was

a distant relation to William Shakespeare. The McDonnell, the

Shadow Chancellor. I do solemnly, sincerely,

and truly declare and affirm, that I will be faithful and bear

true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her heirs

and successors, according to law. And Diane Abbott. Recently she

announced that she was suffering from type two diabetes.

I swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful

and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth,

her heirs and successors, according to law.

Now, hauling interview by the DUP members, the Democratic Unionists I

can see in the shot we were looking at a few moments ago. We sought many

DUP members. Confidence and supply, Akash, what does that actually mean?

What are we talking about? It is not a phrase we have heard too much of

at Westminster although interestingly in 2010, but the

Conservatives and Liberal Democrats had drafted a confident and supply

agreement as a back-up in case the coalition talks failed and what it

basically means is it is a looser kind of cooperation agreement. We

can't hear it but the Speaker and Jeremy Corbyn are having a chat

there. So sorry. Confidence and supply agreements, which we have

seen in a few other countries such as New Zealand, Ireland and

elsewhere, the essence of it is that the smaller party promises to back

the Government on crucial votes in which its survival depends, is as we

have discussed Bedi, confidence vote and supply meaning votes on

Government finance when the Government is authorised to spend

money on public services and so on and in return the smaller party can

negotiate various kinds of concession over policy issues, more

spending on its priorities, so we expect to see commitments to extra

budget potentially for Northern Ireland, or protection of certain

benefits that the DUP in its manifesto working to protect

including winter fuel allowance and triple lock pensions. I know I am

going back to 74-79 and the parliaments then, but is that what

the Liberals did under David steel? They did not form a coalition, did

they? No, the Liberals, a lot of people would say actually

underplayed their hands. They saved Callaghan at a very difficult moment

when it looks like the Government might fall, but they didn't really

secure much in return. Barry Gardner, one of the great

stars of the election. Richard Bergen, Angela Rayner,

queueing there. You can see, just about the centre of the screen...

What all those DUP members? They seem to have got jolly close but

they seem to be in exact same position as they were. I think the

the key is actually snaking all the way out to the bar of the House of

Commons at one end and then coming back down the other side. That is

why we have not seen them. I do solemnly, sincerely,

and truly declare and affirm, that I will be faithful and bear

true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her heirs

and successors, according to law. Richard Bergen there are, shall we

say, not taking the oath. To sweeten the monarch. Tender word Dover Diane

I do solemnly, sincerely, and truly declare and affirm,

that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen

Elizabeth, her heirs and successors, according to law.

Angela Rayner found herself suddenly in the Shadow Cabinet as Education

Secretary. We have a logjam, really, haven't

we? One final goal on 74-79. What is amazing, Mark, is that those two

parliaments lasted four and a half years out of five. I was listening

back to an interview I recorded with the late Michael foot who was Leader

of the House, business manager for a long part of that time, and he said

nobody believed they could possibly last as long as they did. They had

one of the most brilliant whipping operations and did all sorts of

tricks, you know? They would be a crucial vote and a Conservative MP

who was particularly keen on defence issues would be of the Atlantic

observing Nato exercises and that would have been carefully arranged

in advance for just that purpose. That was the kind of length they

went to to ensure they won as many votes as they possibly could. For

young whippersnappers, there was a very good play, for which I hasten

to say you provided advice for, which gives you a very good

background the that period. Yes, James Grahamwonderful play This

House. I think it has just finished its second production. But it is an

extraordinary telling of this whipping jewel between Walter

Harrison who was deputy Chief Whip under Callaghan and his Conservative

opposite number. They were the rival for managers mustering every vote,

checking the one was passed out in the loos before a vital vote, making

sure no one was on a train or making desperate arrangements to get them

in if they were. All those things every day on every vote because any

vote could be the moment of the ambush that triggered a confidence

motion brought the Government down. And to be honest, we saw ambulances

bringing MPs into new Palace Yard and there were MPs who died from the

strain of the whole thing over that period. Absolutely. There were

people put in a makeshift hospital rooms in ministerial offices in

promote other corridors of the comments and basically put up there.

I know that Jack Wetherall had one particular MP's house under

surveillance as he was known to be very ill and someone from the local

Conservative Association would take a look to see if an ambulance were

taken down. They were that thorough that the calculation they were

making. And then there was the awful case of self or draw to and who on

the final vote of all terribly, terribly ill, was not able to make

it. Yes, and I know from Lord McNally who was Jim Callaghan's

special adviser from the time that Callaghan spent a lot of time on the

phone to him just trying to make it clear that it wasn't his fault that

the Government had fallen. Could we see then Brexit ministers

negotiating in Brussels or wherever suddenly having to rush back to the

House of Commons to vote? It is entirely possible that that could be

the case. There is a pairing deal in place. One of the reasons that

Parliament back in the 1970s wassail strenuous was that the

Conservatives. They have caught Labour gaming the rules and they

broke off the normal arrangement where if one MP is away, and

opposite MP would step away. That is the lifeblood of Parliament that

allows people not to be there at every possible vote. When that

breaks down, everybody has to be there all the time and it only

takes... It needn't be anything dramatic like a political gesture,

it could be a broken down train that suddenly changes the balance of

Parliament. May be another strike on Southern rail. That might be enough

to finish off a Government. Rather worrying thought! If you are not

there for the confidence vote itself, the vote is lost. No one is

paired on confidence votes. Akash, is the vote on the Queen's speech a

vote of confidence? That is historically traditionally exactly

what it is viewed as, so we will have the Queen's speech... We think

next Monday, although there is some question as to whether they will be

ready yet. Considerable question, I think. Whenever it takes place,

there will then be a few days of debate followed by a vote on a

humble address to Her Majesty using some quite arcane wording that I

cannot recall, but the effect of which is whether the House of

Commons gives its backing to the contents of the Queen's speech. If

it votes no, it does not, by convention the Government is

expected, or at least the Prime Minister is expected to resign.

Precisely what happens next is a little unclear. That has not happens

is leading 24. Are, you remember the case of Stanley Baldwin presenting

the King's speech in 1924, January. He lost the vote on the King's

speech and Ramsay MacDonald formed a minority Labour .my guess, the first

Labour minority Government. Yes, just before we met through to the

House of Lords to see how they are doing... Oh, we are in the House of

lords and there is Lord Tebbit. I should let you know that Ian

Blackford of the SNP has been elected the parliamentary leader of

the SNP group. He is replacing Angus Robertson who lost his seat in the

election last week. He is one of their new intake. There could be as

bit of generational change about. Is this generation 2015 taking over

from the previous group, the small group of SNP MPs who have been there

for a long time before that. Ian Blackford and his new Deputy Kirsty

Blackman are now in charge of the third largest group of the House of

Commons. He defeated Charles Kennedy in the 2015 general election. And we

are back in the Commons. We saw Ken Baker, Lord Baker, of education act

I think we could call him. Swearing in in the Lords.

We are going to have a Welsh language affirmation. Now, you have

to say it in English first and then you can see it in well.

I do solemnly, sincerely, and truly declare and affirm,

that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen

Elizabeth, her heirs and successors, according to law.

Yr wyf yn addo, trwy gymorth y Goruchaf, y byddaf yn ffyddlon ac yn

wir deyrngar i'w Mawrhydi, y Frenhines Elizabeth,

ei hetifeddion a'i holynwyr, yn ol y Ddeddf, yn wyneb Duw.

behind how, circular Starmer, Shadow Brexit secondary. -- secretary.

I do solemnly, sincerely, and truly declare and affirm,

that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen

Elizabeth, her heirs and successors, according to law.

So, I think just as we reach the close, I think I need to ask you to

things, Mark. First of all, it is the Queen's birthday Honours coming

up at the weekend. Pity you think Theresa May will be honouring? Some

of those MPs who managed to lose their seats? I think that might be a

nice gesture for some of them. There will certainly not be any promotions

to the House of Lords to be MPs have just been re-elected, that could be

a risk too far. After 30 years representing Canterbury, a letter

might be a bit lasting. And some MPs is to stay down, such as Andrew

Tyree who was chairman of the Treasury committee for some years,

he may feel he could possibly go to be House of Lords as well. Mark, put

your cards on the line. How long will this Parliament last? I think

it will last for at least 18 months, possibly a bit longer than that. It

really depends. There is no percentage in the Conservatives

calling an election if they do not think they will win it. If they see

a window of opportunity, doubtless they will seek to take it. But they

might feel also that they wanted to have a new reader as well. We will

have to see how things develop with Theresa May continuing after the

selection but if she is replaced, a new leader and a new atmosphere

might decide that it was the moment to call another election for better

luck. Maybe a more popular manifesto. Akash, what is your time

limit for this Parliament? I do not know if I would put a number on it,

but any Conservative leader, even if they had a huge number in the polls,

they will be very cautious after what happened to Theresa May this

time. I would have thought it is the last thing they will be planning

for. There is an early election, it is far more likely to be because

there are splits or they lose the DUP. How long will it last? I would

certainly give it a good couple of years or more. There we are. Signing

the role there. She proposed John Bercow for the speakership yesterday

and queueing up behind her, Sir Alan Duncan. You can see many, many more

people waiting to take the oath in the Commons and also along the

corridor in the House of Lords. The streaming through into both houses.

But I think that is where we will have to leave our live coverage and

bring it to a close. Let me remind you once again that today, for the

rest of today and for the rest of this week, you can continue to watch

MPs and peers swearing in by logging onto BBC Parliament online. Don't

forget there is an as on the end. I would like to tell you when you can

watch the State Opening of Parliament when the Queen will set

out the Government's programme for the coming year from the throne in

House of Lords, but as you probably know, we do not have a date for that

yet and it certainly looks at present to be delayed beyond Monday.

The reason certainly isn't because of problems of ink drying and fell

because I can assure you, having talked to the deputy clerk of the

Crown, the Queen actually read the speech on stiff paper. It is only

later transcribed to develop. So, stay tuned to BBC News on BBC

television, radio and online for updates of when that might be. In a

moment, we will go live to Holyrood break Government debate on the

economy but from me and our guests in the studio, thank you so much for

joining us here on probation day from Westminster. A very good after

them. -- afternoon.