National politics

National politics

• Covering Parliament
• History
• The press gallery
• Sources of stories
• Parliament visit

The House of Commons

Parliament & the press

• Before 1771, reporting debates in Parliament was a crime punishable by fines or imprisonment
• Publications resorted to subterfuge – disguising reports as if they were letters, or the proceedings of fictitious societies
• In 1771, judges refused to hear a case against a printer who published a report from the Commons after he was locked in the Tower of London, and coverage of Parliament began.

Parliament by JMW Turner

Hansard: official record

• William Cobbett started to write Parliamentary Debates in 1802, published by Thomas Curson Hansard.
• In 1812, Hansard bought the publication. From 1829, reports of the day in Parliament were printed with the name “Hansard” on the title page.
• In 1889, Hansard was subsided by Parliament to ensure there was always a permanent record of debates, and in 1909 it took over publication entirely.

A bound volume of Hansard

The press gallery

• In 1803 the public gallery was so full to hear Pitt speak on the Napoleonic Wars that reporters lost their seats. The speaker ruled a part of the public gallery would be reserved for the press.
• After the Second World War, MPs’ speeches were broadcast into the gallery so reporters could clearly hear what was being said. Telephone kiosks, enabling reporters to file copy directly to their news desk, were added.

The press gallery, above the speaker’s chair

Women in the gallery

• Not until 1919.
• In 1890, a request from the Women’s Penny Paper was declined with the warning: “the consequences were too difficult to conceive”.
• When they were finally given access, it was to cover the arrival of the UK’s first woman MP, Nancy Astor.
• But it was not until 1945 that women could take up permanent posts in the gallery. The first was Eirene Jones, of the Manchester Evening News.

Nancy Astor, the first female MP

The modern press gallery

• About 170 journalists work in the press gallery today.
• They file from the cramped upper gallery of the house.
• Members include every national daily & Sunday newspaper, major broadcasters, websites including Conservative Home and Politics.co.uk, magazines including the Spectator, the Economist, the Muslim News and Middle East News – plus major regional papers.

Adam Boulton, Sky News politics correspondent

Reporting on Parliament

The headline-stealers:

• Prime Ministers questions (30 mins every Wednesday, 12pm)
• Question Time (One hour Monday to Thursday, 2.30pm)
• Major scheduled debates

Cameron at PMQs

Question Time

• Ministers called to answer questions in a rota, known as the Order of Oral Questions.
• Questions must be submitted in advance.
• MPs who are called to ask their question can then ask a supplementary question, which is not revealed in advance.
• The last 15 minutes is reserved for “topical issues” – i.e. that day’s news.

Jeremy Hunt answers questions

Question Time rota

Monday

Jan 14-17

Tuesday

Defence

Jan 21-24

Wednesday

Education

Health

Thursday

Foreign & Commonwealth Office

Prime Minister

& Wales

Prime Minister & Northern Ireland

Transport

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs