General Meeting: February 2025

Felicity Whittle worked for over 29 years in the House of Commons Library in various roles and she gave us an insight into the workings of Parliament. The proceedings and legislature must be impartial and some is confidential e.g. constituency matters, but the rest is available on the website and in Hansard. Felicity had a wealth of fascinating, often amusing detail about the day to day running of such an organisation, including Seb Coe ‘s office being situated the furthest distance from the Division lobbies as he could run quickly! The House of Commons rooms and furnishings are all green while those of the House of Lords are red and everything is colour coded in this way.

There were some wonderful nostalgic images on the screen of memorable MPs including Tony Benn, Charles Kennedy and Frank Field. We were shown books written by well known characters earlier in their lives such as “The Art of the Deal” written in 1987 by one and only Donald J. Trump and “A Parliamentary Affair” by Edwina Currie. There was information too about Portcullis House which provides a less formal meeting place for MPs and visitors. This was an informative, insightful and hugely enjoyable talk.