Sketchup: Transport Questions in the Lords
A selection of lines from parliamentary sketch-writers.
It was a historic day in the House of Lords on Thursday with the first Commons-style questions session to cabinet ministers who sit in the upper chamber. Transport Secretary Lord Adonis was first to take his turn.
Quentin Letts in the Daily Mail notices a marked difference between the behaviour of those who sit in the two Houses in reaction to Lord Adonis's remark that London had too much money:
"Had a minister said that in the Commons there would have been an immediate yelp of confected protest from the Opposition. In the Lords, however, they consider yelping to be infra dig."
The Guardian's Simon Hoggart hints at the mature make-up of the upper chamber when one peer pronounced that she had a bus pass:
"It's not much of a declaration: there may be only two other peers who don't have one."
Andrew Gimson in the Telegraph is amused by Lord Adonis's claim that "No complacency are my middle names".
Elsewhere in the Palace of Westminister, Speaker John Bercow addressed the parliamentary press gallery. In the Times, Ann Treneman notes how well-suited to the role he is:
"Mr Speaker does what it says on the tin, which is, speak. His oratory model is Fidel Castro and, truly, the onslaught of words is monumental. It was like trying to swim in a teeming mass of syllables."
Simon Carr in the Independent argues that questions regarding the views of Mrs Bercow (who was present) on David Cameron are "legitimate" and "inevitable".
"It's as if the Archbishop of Canterbury was married to a practising Satanist."
Links in full
Quentin Letts | Daily Mail | Watery eyes, a quill pen - like a clerk in Trollope
Simon Hoggart | Guardian | Genteel does it
Andrew Gimson | Telegraph | Frostbite on the platform of railway improvement
Ann Treneman | Times | The John and Sally Bercow show
Simon Carr | Independent | You can't beat the House but you can whip it into shape
Democracy Live | Questions to the transport secretary
