House of Commons

Royal Assent: Crown neutrality on Brexit is unsustainable

The last time Royal Assent was withheld from a parliamentary bill was in the wake of the union of England and Scotland in 1707/8, when Queen Anne declined to support the Scottish Militia Bill. And she did so on the…

Parliamentary prayers chaplain house of commons prayer

Parliamentary prayers give strength and instil humility: they impose nothing and exclude no one

January 21, 2019
0 Comments

"If MPs don’t want to attend prayers, they wait outside for five minutes until they are over", tweeted Nadine Dorries MP, in response to those who are agitating anew for…

jonathan aitken times credo pray for parliament

Rev’d Jonathan Aitken calls the nation to pray for Parliament

December 9, 2018
0 Comments

From The Times' 'Credo' column yesterday, by the Rev'd Jonathan Aitken, reproduced here with permission: After a seismic week of political and constitutional upheavals at Westminster, might this be a…

Dominic Grieve isn’t a traitor; he’s a lawyer with a blind spot

June 19, 2018
0 Comments

'Unhinged' is how Dominic Grieve described his Brexit-supporting colleagues on the Conservative benches in the House of Commons. Or was it just some of his colleagues? Perhaps it was just…

EU withdrawal Bill clears the Commons: will the Bishops vote for Brexit?

February 9, 2017
280 Comments

It is the stuff of which our Island history is made. The House of Commons has voted overwhelmingly to give the Prime Minister leave to invoke Article 50 of the…

Man plans, God laughs: House of Commons votes to trigger Article 50

December 8, 2016
66 Comments

The House of Commons has voted to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty – by which the UK will begin secession negotiations with the EU – by the end…

Parliament's vote to bomb Syria has already won the moral victory against ISIL

December 3, 2015
187 Comments

As I began writing this within an hour of the Commons vote, 4 RAF Tornadoes were already on their way to bomb Syria. This is it; the UK is now…

Phantoms of a Labour-SNP opera

April 26, 2015
185 Comments

If the polls are to be believed (and they are variable and conflicting, to say the least), the Conservative Party is looking to be unlikely to command a majority…

How much UK aid was given to Christian-persecuting countries in 2014?

January 12, 2015
205 Comments

The most authoritative report on the persecution of Christians around the world has now been released for 2015. The widely respected Open Doors World Watch List is the only annual global survey…

Our MPs should not let fear hold them back – this is a just war against IS

September 26, 2014
73 Comments

Today offers the chance for MPs to begin to redeem themselves. After an attempt by David Cameron to intervene in Syria that fell flat on its face, and an Iraq war…