27/04/2017 Prorogation

After just two years but to Prime Minister the UK's 56

Parliament is coming unexpectedly to a close, to make way

The Commons and Lords have just finished their work,

Good afternoon from Westminster, where time is running out

And the ceremony of prorogation will begin in a couple of minutes time.

That was the clock of the House of Lords, here is the House

of Lords in session, gathering for the last time

Joining me in the studio in Westminster are Sean Curran,

BBC Parliamentary correspondent and, until Easter, the clerk

of the House of Lords, the clerk of the Parliaments,

We are waiting for the Leader of the House of Lords Baroness Evans

to mention the prorogation is under way, and she may say

that the Queen will not be present on this occasion.

What's it like, Sir David, in this final moment of a session?

Especially the dying moment of a Parliament.

I think I'd say it's well drilled and everybody knows

It's obviously quite a significant moment,

that for some weeks after that everybody's minds will be

on the election, nothing will be happening in the chamber.

I think when I was clerk of the Parliaments my main concern

We will see in due course the role of the clerks in the ceremony

Now the House stands for the Lords' Speaker, Lord Fowler.

The third Lord Speaker of the House of Lords

He takes his place at the moment as Lord Speaker on the woolsack,

It not being convenient for Her Majesty personally

to be present this day, she has been pleased to cause

a commission under the Great Seal to be prepared for prorogued

So for approximately the 163rd time since Queen Victoria,

it wasn't, in the end, personally convenient

So a Royal Commission will be appointed and that

will consist of five members of the House of Lords.

It takes them a bit of time to get fully ready for that.

If I may continue with you, Sir David.

Have you got little pangs of disappointment not to be there?

I'm very happy to be here watching from afar

I'm looking forward to seeing it from the studio.

We are going to hear a certain amount of Norman French when it

comes to the granting of Royal assent for acts, you are a past

There has been a bit of chat that when Brexit comes

Have you got any suggestive words for us?

I don't think when the Norman conquest happened and the British

constitution started to be formed that the unity of Europe

You gave me notice of this question and if someone suggested that,

it looked to me as if it's something like "Say or Queen

The Clerk of the Commons came up with his own suggestion,

You heard it here first, Anglo-Saxon for the Queen wishes it.

Are you pleased we got to the end of this session in one piece?

It's been a bit of a shock, we didn't expect to be

The members are Lady Evans, the Leader of the House

of Lords, Lord Privy Seal, Lord Fowler the Lord Speaker,

Baroness Smith of Basildon the Leader of the Opposition peers,

Lord Newby Leader of the Liberal Democrats,

and Lord Hope of Craighead, convener of the crossbenchers.

And Black Rod walks towards towards the Royal Commission to be

Let the Commons know that the Lords Commissioners

desired their immediate attendance in this House to hear

David Leaky, now you are free of the place, David,

I do think there's no question that the House could do an equally

Until 1999 the numbers rose until over 1,200 but not

The benches are rather more crowded nowadays.

The problem obviously is to find a way of reducing them.

We will shortly see Black Rod walk through.

As Black Rod goes to collect the Commons at this stage,

This session and this Parliament, just two years long.

It's been an extraordinary Parliament, dominated

We saw David Cameron the first Prime Minister of this Parliament

under constant pressure from Eurosceptics on his own side,

That's not to say that there weren't big moments

We, of course, had that big debate about bombing Isis in Syria

when Hilary Benn made that speech from the Labour front benches.

In the House of Lords we had the revolt over tax

I think the referendum has dominated.

The principal doorkeeper of the House of Commons is awaiting

Before that happens, the door will, as with state opening,

You will have heard the MPs say, "we're out"!

Mr Speaker, the Lords who are authorised by virtue

of Her Majesty's commission to declare her Royal assent act

is passed by both houses, and to declare the prorogation

of Parliament, desired in the presence of this honourable

The Speaker thinks on the whole they will go.

Quite a good turnout in the Commons, many retiring MPs.

There have been two tragic moments in this Parliament,

the murder of Jo Cox and not so very long ago, the murder

Absolutely, both moments that shocked everybody at Westminster.

Only this week there was talk of the memorial to Jo Cox,

anyone who's ever been in the House of Commons will notice that along

the walls there are these plaques, some of them are empty,

some of them have coats of arms on them.

They represent all of those MPs who, in past years, had fallen.

Many fell during the First World War.

They also commemorate those who have been killed

There was going to be a ceremony in a few weeks' time for there to be

a plaque to commemorate Jo Cox, that's been delayed

There is though thereshould be one for PC Keith Palmer as well.

The principal doorkeeper, the principal barkeeper,

the Sergeant of arms and accompanying the Speaker, John

The Speaker's secretary together with the clerk of the Commons.

The clerk, you could just see them, he picked it up from the table

when he left, the money bill, the Finance Bill.

He's going to hand it over to the clerk of the Parliaments,

signifying the Commons authority on financial matters.

He will hand that Bill over, no discussion really

Quite a queue of people heading to the Commons.

I would say one of the big moments was in July 2016.

We'd had the referendum, everybody thought that

would be the big issue, but then we had the report

Show us this moment when your Commons equivalent,

he's producing their the Finance Bill.

What should happen is that my successor in a moment...

We are looking out for a couple of doffers.

They are greeting the Commons and the Commons bowl in return.

They aren't that synchronised either!

This is apparently to show who they are.

The Speaker is holding the Finance Bill.

The clerk of the Parliament takes it from him.

The point being that this Bill grants money to the Crown

and that is in the gift of the Commons and not the Lords.

My lords and members of the House of Commons,

Her Majesty not thinking fit to be personally present at this time,

has been pleased to cause a commission to be issued under

under the Great Seal, and thereby given her Royal assent

to diverse acts that have been agreed upon by both

The titles whereof are particularly mentioned and by the said commission

has commanded us to declare and notify her Royal Assent

to be said several acts, in the presence of you the Lords

and Commons, assembled for that purpose.

And has also assigned to us and other Lords directed full power

and authority in Her Majesty's name, to prorogue this Parliament, which

Elizabeth II, by the grace of God of United Kingdom of Great Britain

and Northern Ireland and of art other run-scoring, head

of the Commonwealth, defender of the faith,

to right trusty and well be loved Lords spiritual and temporal

and our trusty and well beloved knights, citizens

of the House of Commons in this presents Parliament assembled,

For as much as in our said Parliament, diverse acts have been

agreed by our loving subjects, the Lords spiritual and temporal

and the Commons, the short titles of which are set forward

in the schedules here to that the said acts

are not in force in the law without Royal Assent and in as much

as we cannot be present at this time in the Houses of Parliament,

giving oral assent to such acts as have been agreed upon a we have

therefore caused these to be made and have signed these

letters and by them give our Royal Assent to those acts,

willing the said act shall be of the same strength,

force and the fact is if we'd had been personally present in the said

higher house and had publicly and in the presence

with the great Seal of our realm and also commanding the most

Reverend Father in God, are grateful Chancellor,

prime of all England and Metropolitan.

Our well be loved and faithful councillors,

Elizabeth Mary truss, Chancellor of Great Britain.

Peter Norman, Lord Fowler, Lord Speaker.

Natalie Jessica, Baroness Evans of those part, Lord Privy Seal.

James Arthur David, Lord Hope of Craighead,

Angela Evans, Baroness Smith of Basildon.

Or any three or more of them to declare this Royal Assent

in the said higher house in the presence of you,

the said Lords and Commons, and the clerk of our parliaments

to endorse the act in our name and record these letters and said

acts in the manner accustomed and we declare that after this

Royal Assent given and declared then and immediately the said acts shall

be taken and accepted as good and perfect acts

of parliament and be put into due execution accordingly.

Whereas we did lately, for a diverse difficult and pressing

affairs concerning us, the state and defence

of our United Kingdom and church, ordained this our present Parliament

too beholden at the city of Westminster, the 18th of May

on the day our said Parliament was begun and Holden,

and is now Holden, for certain pressing courses and considerations,

we have thought fit to prorogue our said Parliament.

We therefore, confiding much in the fidelity,

prudence and circumspection of our commissioners,

have by the consent of our council assigned to our commissioners,

giving to you or any three or more of you full power and authority

in our name to prorogue and continue our present Parliament

in our city of Westminster, from Thursday the 27th day of April

or Friday the 28th day of April until Tuesday the second day of May.

We command that you attend the premises and fulfil them.

We also command all and singular, art archbishops, Lords, baronets,

mites, and all others to make concerns to meet at Harris said

Parliament over two of these presence that they assist

you in executing the premises as they ought to do.

In witness thereof we have caused these letters to be made patent,

witness ourselves at Westminster in the 66th year of our reign.

By the Queen herself, signed with her own hand.

Jake Thorne, on his fourth stay in office as Reading Clerk.

He swaps places with the deputy clerk of the Crown.

By virtue of the commission now read, we declare and notified

to you the Lords spiritual and temporal and Commons

in Parliament assembled that Her Majesty has

given her Royal Assent to the acts in the commission mentioned

and the clerks are required to pass the same in the usual

The deputy clerk of the Crown will read the titles of the acts.

He is giving the Royal Assent in Norman French.

Intellectual property, unjustified threats act.

Preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence

Health service medical supplies costs act.

Northern Ireland Ministerial Appointments And Regional Rates Act.

Local audit public access to documents act.

Merchant Shipping, Homosexual Conduct Act.

Faversham Oyster Fishery Company Act.

22 acts passed in the last few days of this parliamentary session

We are commanded to deliver Her Majesty'sspeech

My Lords and members of the House of Commons.

My government has pursued a programme that has delivered

security and strong leadership and began the task of making Britain

My ministers have brought forward measures to build a stronger economy

and a more united nation while also acting to counter threats

to national security and build a more outward

The defence of the realm has remained an utmost priority

Legislation was passed to ensure that law enforcement and security

agencies had the powers to disrupt terrorist attacks.

My government has continued with a programme to reform

New legislation will help make the police and Fire Service

more capable, efficient and locally accountable.

Building on the success of last year's anti-corruption Summit,

legislation was introduced to tackle money-laundering, seize

criminal assets and combat terrorist financing,

to build a stronger economy my government has taken forward

measures as part of its plans for a stronger Britain

so the country is well placed to exploit new opportunities

in the global economy and ensure the benefits are spread

through the country, to ensure the UK remains a leader

in developing new technologies, draft legislation was published

setting out a new framework to support the growing commercial

space flight industry, to foster innovation and foster

creative industries, legislation reforming the law

My ministers have you continued investment and infrastructure

projects to ensure local communities can grow and prosper.

Legislation was passed to support the building of a high-speed railway

from London to Birmingham and allow for better local bus

My government has also legislated to ensure all households can access

fast broadband and allow new telecommunications

infrastructure to be rolled out across the nation.

Legislation has given communities more control over

To build a fairer society my government has brought forward

measures to protect the most vulnerable and drive greater social

reform so every child has the chance to make the most of their talents.

To this end legislation has been passed to enable a world-class

technical education system that provides opportunities

Legislation has been asked to improve soldier and's social care

in England and put the national citizens service

My government also supported legislation to tackle homelessness

Provision was also made to help low income families save for the future

to help young people save for the long term

with a lifetime ISA and to protect pension schemes.

With a rough edition of the important role of charities,

legislation helped charities and community sports clubs

by simplifying the gift aid donation scheme.

A new act will enable the NHS and the taxpayer to secure better

value for money from the growing cost of medicines.

To build a more united nation, my government has made it a priority

to strengthen the union between all parts of the UK.

Legislation established a long-term devolution settlement in Wales

and an England significant new powers have been devolved

My government has taken steps to enable the resumption of devolved

government in Northern Ireland when an agreement is reached

To deliver the results of the 2016 referendum,

legislation allowing the UK formally to signal its intent to withdraw

My government has worked to ensure a global Britain plays a leading

role in world affairs and provided assistance to British

To bolster the UK's role in developing countries,

new legislation will allow further investment to create more jobs

and boost economic growth in the poorest countries in Africa

Legislation was enacted to protect cultural property in times of law.

Legislation was enacted to protect cultural property in times of waw.

Legislation was enacted to protect cultural property in times of war.

The Duke of Edinburgh and I were pleased to welcome

the President of the Republic of Colombia in November,

strengthening our friendship with an important partner in Latin America.

My ministers established a close relationship

with the new administration in the United States.

My government has continued to play a leading role in the global

coalition against Daesh and employed British troops in Estonia and Poland

as part of Nato's enhanced presence while maintaining the UN consensus

My ministers have pursued a campaign against modern slavery

and help to secure pledges of ?4.6 billion for the humanitarian

crisis in Syria during a conference in Brussels in April.

Members of the House of Commons, I thank you for the provisions

you have made for the work and dignity of the crowned

you have made for the work and dignity of the crown

My lords and members of the House of commons,

I pray that the blessing of Almighty God may rest

My lords, and members of the House of Commons,

by virtue of Her Majesty's commission, which has been now read,

we do, in Her Majesty's name, and in obedience to her commands,

prorogue this Parliament to the second day of May,

to be then here Holden and this Parliament is accordingly prorogued

Lady Evans, who used to work in a think tank,

I bet she never thought she would end up doing that job.

Farewell from the Royal Commissioners,

They have been prorogued, and both Houses of Parliament

will actually be dissolved at one minute past midnight

The proclamation will be read in Edinburgh by the Lord.

And the State Opening will be on the 19th of June when the Queen

will outline the plans for the next Parliament.

I say the State Opening, it's not going to have robes,

the Queen won't wear her crown, it's being done in

They say there isn't enough time to prepare.

I remember the last time that happened was in March 1974,

when the Queen was in Australia for some of the election campaign.

Sean Curran, this Parliament comes to an end and by definition almost,

we are going, a lot of MPs will be retiring.

We had one announcement today that Sir Edward Garnier is retiring.

The Yeoman Usher, the deputy Sergeant at Arms to the House

of Lords will escort out the Lord Speaker.

We might see some of those turn up in the Commons for the last time

to shake the Speaker's hand but they have had a long

wait because the Commons finished its business at 11:15am.

We've all had lots of things to do obviously.

Since 2014 it's been possible for members to retire

Still keeping the membership around 800 because new ones

The sergeant-at-arms is now not with the mace because Parliament

He is accompanied there by the Speaker.

And so we've seen the Commons summoned to the Lords,

the appointment of the Royal Commission, Royal assent given to 22

acts and the prorogation of this Parliament culminated

And although all these people have been to the House of Lords,

the Speaker is now going to inform them as to what they have just seen.

Who are you going to miss amongst the retirees?

I think, interestingly, some of the people retiring aren't

necessarily household names but have a big impact.

I was quite surprised to see that Iain Wright,

the Labour MP for Hartlepool who had been the chair of the business

Actually somebody who I think had had quite a big impact

with his committee on a lot of issues that affect

He had that big tussle with Sports Direct.

That will change the landscape of the committees.

Of course we are also losing some familiar names in Westminster.

Although we might not have seen him quite as much.

I think he is spending his time counting his money.

He's made one speech in Parliament...

The House has been to the House of Peers where a Commission

was read authorising the Royal assent to the following acts.

Parking places variation of charges act 2017.

Broadcasting radio multiplex services act 2017.

Intellectual Property, Unjustified Threats Act 2017.

Technical And Further Education Act 2017.

Health Service Medical Supplies Costs Act 2017.

Northern Ireland Ministerial Appointments

Local Audit Public Access to Documents Act 2017.

Merchant Shipping Homosexual Conduct Act 2017.

Guardianship Missing Persons Act 2017.

Higher Education and Research Act 2017.

Faversham Oyster Fishery Company Act 2017.

I have further to acquaint the House that the Leader

of the House of Lords, one of the Lords' Commissions

delivered Her Majesty's most gracious speech to both Houses

of Parliament in pursuance of Her Majesty's command.

For greater accuracy, I have obtained a copy,

and also directed that the terms of the speech be printed

Copies are being made available in the vote office.

The Commission was also for proroguing this present

Parliament, and the Leader of the House of Lords said: "My lords

and members of the House of Commons, by virtue of Her Majesty's

Commission, which has been now read, we do, in Her Majesty's name,

and in obedience to Her Majesty's commands, prorogue this Parliament

This Parliament is accordingly prorogued to Tuesday

STUDIO: So, they won't see them on May 2nd.

Good news really that in this busy Parliament there was time to pass

bills for farriers and indeed the Faversham Oyster farm.

Fisheries, I'm doing them a disservice.

That's the Solicitor General shaking hands with the Speaker.

He's just shaken hands with the government Chief Whip.

Now the shadow Leader of the Commons for Labour.

Tobias Ellwood, the Foreign Office minister recently appointed

to the Privy Council, following his actions on that

You may think it sounds a bit silent in the Commons, it does,

because the formal part of the session has ended, there is

I'm afraid that's why you can't hear these nice chats with the Speaker.

Andrew Percy there, saying goodbye at this session to the Speaker.

From the dissolution on Wednesday, MPs will no longer be MPs.

And of course hereditary peers in your House,

they die and then there are these strange by-elections when they die.

Not just if they die but if they choose to retire.

Are you a supporter of by-elections for hereditary peers?

Now I've retired I'm allowed to have a view and the short

The curiosity of the nature of the electorate and even more

so the people who can stand, which doesn't include

you or me but only people who have a hereditary peerage,

means they are not our finest moment, having to run

The system was introduced to enable the numbers to be kept up

I think this is Fiona Mactaggart getting a kiss.

She has announced this week she is standing down.

An MP since 1997, representing Slough.

She said this week after 20 years she had done her bit.

Mr Morris was the keyboard player for Rick Astley.

Eric Pickles who announced this week he was going to stand down.

He's the kind of person we could end up seeing

in the House of Lords, David.

There's normally a list of new peers after a dissolution, yes.

But it's not always predictable who the lucky

As an ex-Cabinet minister it's not at all unlikely.

An emotional moment, that's someone leaving

There's Iain Wright who we were just talking about,

He's been pretty busy this Parliament.

He's had a high-profile role in Parliamentary terms.

He may not be a household name but someone who did

That's the Culture Secretary saying goodbye to the Speaker.

Yes, and he chaired, along with Frank Field,

They did make it up and there were warm words being exchanged

They famously had a difficult relationship.

There was a joke going around that involved dwarves

Simon Burns had to make a lot of apologies for that.

He's been a member of the Chelmsford since 1987.

Sir Alan Haselhurst, I would be surprised if he isn't

there but he has served since 1970 as an MP, with a small

Simon Burns is saying he's going to come and campaign

for the Speaker in Beaconsfield, not Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire yes, Buckingham.

Normally the Speaker stands as the Speaker

The Liberal Democrats have announced they are standing.

Whether John Bercow bonds Sir Simon Burns's support.

He is famously an enthusiastic supporter of Hillary Clinton

and was campaigning for her during the US presidential election.

And has campaigned for the Democrats over many years.

It's one of the interesting features, along with

Sir Alan Duncan, another prominent supporter of the Democrats

In having quite a large majority there but that

For quite a short period, deputy leader of the Conservative Party.

When was he deputy leader of the Conservative Party?

It may have been under William Hague or John Major.

He was definitely deputy leader of the Conservatives

We will look it up after this programme.

There are a lot of Conservative MPs who have stayed,

I don't know if that's normal that it's the Government benches to stay.

I think Labour MPs historically have not tended to stay

Who was the standout backbencher for you?

I think it depends upon your criteria.

I think we can see there Peter Bone is lining up, I think

he was an influential backbencher, one of those who was

agitating behind-the-scenes to get the referendum.

Another person with a lot of influence, maybe not a household

name, was Steve Baker, another Conservative Eurosceptic

because of the way they organised their colleagues.

The mysterious unseen person in the studio,

researcher Simon Vaughan, has produced evidence that

Peter Lilley was deputy leader of the Conservative Party

That's embarrassing because I was here so I should have known.

Now he will no longer even be known by the electors

Kit Malthouse has search Boris Johnson.

On the deputy mayor in charge of policing.

That is Natalie McGarry who began as an SNP member,

now an independent and she will not stand at this election so she spoke

She had the whip withdrawn by the SNP.

She has faced well documented difficulties.

We also had quite a number of by-elections in this session.

Sean, how many by-elections have there been in the last year?

Made her maiden speech this week, it almost looked

like she would come in and go out without saying anything.

Ozzy O'Brien, he won Darlington for a Labour in 1983 and lasted

three months later at the general election and was never

Caroline Johnson is quite a new MP, she is saying farewell.

That replaced Steven Phillips, the barrister who resigned quite

suddenly, basically falling out with the Government over

Martin Vickers from Cleethorpes, he never hesitates to speak up

David, we have had difficulties in the Commons about expenses

but this parliament has been far free of them.

You have had difficulties in the Lords.

Yes, not too many and the good news is that since the House of Lords

suspension act of last year, or the year before...

Sir Gerald Howard saying farewell, a doughty fighter

The House has power to suspend for any period or to expel members

One of the grounds of which you were expelled without any specific

decision in the House is if you were sentenced

to a long prison sentence, so that would happen

He was a great admirer of Margaret Thatcher.

I think one of the features of this year has been Thursdays when we saw

some personal speeches, Conservative MP Vicki Fox talked

about losing a baby, Michelle Thompson talked about sexual

assault and we had some emotional debates that showed backbenchers

prepared to talk openly about things people would keep private.

That was a feature of this Parliament, a change

People find it easier to talk about these things.

Clapping has broken out to some extent, where

I don't mind because if you are trying to report Parliament

for the news it makes for good audio and video, so from a professional

point of view I like moments of drama like that.

We had applause before, when Tony Blair stood down in 2007

With the arrival of the SNP, they started clapping as a block

and that made an impact and then when Hilary Benn made his speech

during the debate on bombing raids, there was applause after that

and we had applause for Andy Burnham's speech

The clerk of the Commons wore his wig today as it is a semi-state

occasion, but the clerks in the Commons abandoned their wigs

in February but they have been kept in the Lords.

So far, yes, there has been talk about it but those members

who raised the matter when it was announced

that we were stopping wearing them in the Commons were keen

I am waiting to see if anyone proposes that

Never let it be said that the laws rushed into a change.

The Lords are sometimes progressive, we were four and a half years

ahead of the Commons in introducing TV cameras.

What change would you like to see developed in the Lords?

What one thing would you like to see change?

I think I would say Question Time could be more effective if it

We waste rather a lot of the available time with members

fighting each other to get in the next supplementary

and if we could be find a way of avoiding that,

A very assiduous chair of the Public Accounts Committee,

he gave way to Margaret Hodge, and equally assiduous chair.

Sir Edward doesn't want to move out of Parliament.

If the restoration ever happens, they were going to vote on this

before Easter but they didn't and he is firmly of the opinion

that they should not move out while repairs take place.

Yes, there is a big job that has to be done and the longer you put it

off there is a chance they will have to move in a hurry.

It seems the officials think you have to go and members

A small minority of members are saying that.

We had a small committee who unanimously recommended

in favour of doing the job in one fell swoop.

This line seems to be about the same length for the last five minutes,

people coming out of the woodwork to shake hands and lining

up, waiting their turn is the Sergeant at Arms and...

There are MPs who are very much Commons chamber people and those

And some confessed that within a few weeks or months,

there is Simon Hall, somebody who does like the chamber,

he likes being there in debates and getting involved but you find

MPs who, after a few months say they didn't find

And people think they are not working.

They tend to say they would rather concentrate on casework and do not

Peter Bone, very keen on being in the chamber,

when Mr Cameron was Prime Minister and asking him questions

when he would invoke the name of his wife,

Mrs Bone, he doesn't seem to do that so often.

I think we had Mrs Bone's birthday, which Theresa May

dealt with not as deftly as she might have done.

Bob Blackman, shaking hands with the MP.

A chuckle as we remember that happy day.

I get the impression in a house of 800, about three quarters

of the speaking is done by 100 peers.

There are others who regard their role as either working

in committees or in some cases supporting their party in divisions.

Alistair Birt, a strong remain supporter saying farewell.

It's very windy at Westminster two days ago, he had

The Speaker seemed interested in his Tie.

I think we have just one more actual MP.

Is it a privilege to be the last MP to shake the Speaker's hand?

I thought, David, in your neck of the woods they could do with more

It was harder because with a male Speaker, three of them

But there is room to do better next time.

His predecessor told me at the bus stop he would not stand again.

A champion ruiner of Private Members' Bills, Andrew Dismal.

Now the Sergeant at Arms, a karate black belt,

in case you think he looks like a softly.

He came from the Ministry of Justice.

This will be the end of his first full session of Parliament.

Lawrence Ward, his predecessor, retired at the end of 2016.

The sergeant was chosen by a panel of MPs headed

It is still the black belt that is most worrying,

and at the back, principled doorkeeper of the House of Commons.

David, you have seen your last parliament in session.

When you and knows your retirement you didn't realise the election

Until it was announced I hadn't expected it.

I felt sorry for my successor on his first working day

in office, the Prime Minister announced a dissolution.

Your successor took office on Monday this week.

He took office at Easter but was sworn in at the first sitting day.

When that happened everyone moved up a little bit,

so the old Reading Clerk, Simon Burton, became clerk Assistant

He doesn't have to take an oath, it's only the clerk of Parliament.

With the other tabled posts, the House has to approve

the Speaker's appointment so a motion was agreed

So when they performed today that was their first time on parade.

Sean, your final thoughts on this Parliament, is pretty short

I think it's been an extraordinary Parliament because it has been

dominated by Brexit, the arguments ahead

of the referendum, the campaign which saw the resignation

of the Prime Minister, having previously won his majority

in his own right just a year before, then those extraordinary few days

and weeks following his resignation and we sought Theresa May become

and weeks following his resignation and we saw Theresa May become

She has not been in office a year and now we're going for an election.

It has been an extremely interesting Parliament.

I'm not sure we will ever see another like this.

Fascinating fact, I believe there was one government defeat

in the Commons in this whole Parliament.

Which has upset the Conservatives in office before, Mrs Thatcher

There have been threatened rebellions we have seen policy

being modified or shelved that that was the only Commons defeat.

And Lords defeat, 38 in this session as opposed to 60 in the last session

I'm not sure I can say that, the opposition can pick

their moments and perhaps they have been more focused when they seek

You can see why he is there and diplomats clerk.

But the Lords is a place where there seems to be defeats.

It will be interesting how the Lords react

to the Queen's Speech that we will see

to the Queen's Speech that we we'll see

And the last people have left the House of Commons and it's

left to the sergeants, the clerks, the doorkeepers,

they have the place all to themselves for a few weeks.

It will not be quiet on BBC Parliament.

We will bring live speeches and election events

from the campaign trail in the coming weeks

and live coverage from the Scottish Parliament,

Welsh Assembly and the European Parliament.

The action will return to Westminster with a meeting

of the 57th Parliament on Tuesday 13th of June and on that day

the Commons and Lords will meet at 2:30pm and MPs

I hope you will join us for the election campaign,

but from all of us here, Sean Curran, Sir David Beamish,

thank you both very much and from Westminster,