DANGEROUS SEATS: Parliamentary Violence

The United Kingdom's parliamentary seats have long been inherently dangerous and those who have held them over the centuries have risked physical injury from irate monarchs, vexed colleagues, disgruntled soldiers, angry mobs and aggrieved activists. They have endured imprisonment for their parliamentary activity, duels arising out of debate, brawls on the floor, forcible removals from the chamber, personal assaults on the streets. At least 21 parliamentarians have died as a result. There is a reason Guy Fawkes's attempt to blow up Westminster Palace in 1605 is remembered every 5th November. A savage attack on Sir John Coventry from an impertinent 1670 Commons allusion to the king's mistresses prompted a change to the penal code that endured over a century. Threats to seat holders have prompted the expansion of parliamentary privilege and changes to institutional procedure, legislation, public policy and popular opinion. Political controversies serve as a window into the development of the parliamentary system over the past 700 years. Also represented here are members of the two institutions absorbed into it (the pre-1707 Scottish and pre-1800 Irish Parliaments) and one devolved from it, Stormont. Together, they tell a fascinating tale. Read about the duel between cabinet colleagues George Canning and Viscount Castlereagh in 1809 and Lady Astor in 1930 pulling the coat tails of a colleague to prevent him from rising to speak and then shaking her fist at him in mock indignation. Equally hazardous could be the Sovereign's Speech at the Opening of Parliament. Under Elizabeth I, some MPs sought to squeeze themselves 'with great thrusting' into the crowded space behind the bar in the House of Lords. And in June 2012, Labour MP Austin Mitchell allowed a fishmonger to hit him in the face with a fresh cod! (To raise money for charity). 384pp, eight pages of riotous and riotously funny lampooning cartoons and contemporary images.