Pick of the Parliamentary week

Here are the big moments, best speeches and a few lighter moments from parliament over the past few days.

In full: Emergency debate on phone hacking

Labour's Chris Bryant successfully lobbied Commons Speaker John Bercow to grant an emergency debate on how to respond to the continuing allegations of phone hacking by journalists.

Mr Bryant opened the debate with condemnation of former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks.

He also denounced Assistant Commissioner John Yates, calling for his resignation over allegations that he misled Parliament.

Another Labour MP, Tom Watson, referred to the allegations that the voicemails of victims of terrible crimes - and those of their family members - had been targeted. "In the world of Rebekah Brooks no one can grieve in private; no one can cry their tears without surveillance," he told MPs.

Mr Watson also declared that he believed News Corporation chief executive James Murdoch should be suspended from his post.

For Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes, rank-and-file police officers were at fault too. He drew a comparison with the fallout from the Stephen Lawrence inquiry, in which the Metropolitan police was branded "institutionally racist", and more recent allegations that police officers had been paid for information.

And Labour's Paul Farrelly pointed the finger at the former director of public prosecutions, Lord Macdonald of River Glaven.

But Conservative backbencher Zac Goldsmith added MPs to his list of guilty parties for failing to find their "backbones" earlier and stand up to the press.

Members' allowances debate

The scandal which rocked the parliamentary world in recent years was, of course, MPs expenses. The revelations of how many MPs had abused the right to self-authorise expenses payments led to a completely new system being brought in, run by an independent body, Ipsa. Unfortunately MPs are not happy with how the system is operating and they have been getting increasingly forceful in their criticism of it. On Thursday MPs gave themselves the go ahead to review the laws covering their new expenses system.

A long-standing diplomatic row resurfaced in the Lords this week, as Labour's Lord Faulkner of Worcester demanded to know how the government would coax ?5m of unpaid congestion charge penalties from the US embassy in London.

Transport spokesman Earl Attlee confirmed that the US ambassador maintains that diplomatic immunity meant there was no need to pay, before revealing that the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, had spoken personally to US President Barack Obama in a bid to resolve the spat.

He "did not get very far", the minister rued. But the US is not the only country refusing to pay, and diplomatic pressure was having more effect on other delegations. "I am pleased to say that we have had some success with Kazakhstan, which has managed to regularise its overdue parking fines," Earl Attlee exclaimed.

Meanwhile MEPs have heard that legislation designed to crack down on drivers who break the law in another EU member state could enable UK drivers to use European roads as "racing circuits" with impunity.

The European Parliament was debating the Cross Border Enforcement Directive - a draft law that would allow EU states to share information on motorists to help identify and fine foreign drivers who commit offences in other member states.

The UK, Ireland and Denmark all came under fire for opting out of the agreement.

The usually unflappable former Bletchley Park code-breaker and Conservative peer Baroness Trumpington was flummoxed by some detailed discussion of thorium reactors on Thursday.

"Please forgive my ignorance," she implored her peers, "but what is thorium?"

Energy Minister Lord Marland provided a rigorous and enlightening response, before revealing that he had gleaned much of the information from Wikipedia.

Mr Swayne is David Cameron's Parliamentary Private Secretary and occasional jogging partner

Ordinarily, the presentation of a petition to Parliament is a perfunctory affair. Debate on the subject is severely constrained by parliamentary procedure, so MPs tend merely to read the text of the petition onto the record at the end of the day's business.

But Conservative backbencher Desmond Swayne broke the mould on Tuesday, delivering his petition with such verve and panache that his fellow MPs emitted rapturous cheers.

The perennially sprightly Tory MP Peter Bone, whose lot it was to present the next petition, lamented: "To follow that is impossible."

Baroness Knight of Collingtree demanded on Wednesday to know why the government was planning to allow some prisoners to vote in general elections, yet had no plans to allow peers of the realm the same right.

Opinion is divided in the upper chamber about whether peers, who are able to amend legislation and grill government ministers, also need representation in the lower house.

But Justice Minister Lord McNally responded cryptically: "You can tell a man who boozes by the company he chooses."

Phone hacking was the focus of Prime Minister David Cameron's weekly question session, with Opposition Leader Ed Miliband accusing the PM of showing a lack of leadership in his handling of the affair.

And members of the National Assembly for Wales agreed to re-instate a colleague who had been disqualified for being a member of an organisation from which AMs are banned.

In a packed week at the European Parliament highlights included the Polish PM urging EU members to reject nationalism while Denmark's decision to step up border controls received criticism. New laws on food labelling were agreed and the UK's attitude to a host of EU home affairs issues was covered during a committee hearing with Home Secretary Theresa May.

Compiled by Democracy Live's Ed Lowther

democracylive@bbc.co.uk

View the original article here

Pick of the Parliamentary week

Not been paying attention to Parliament? Well, never fear. Here are the big moments, best speeches... and a few lighter moments.

The Queen officially opened the fourth session of the Scottish Parliament on Friday (just in time for its summer break). She told MSPs at Holyrood that the parliament was now firmly established as an integral part of Scottish life.

Scottish Parliament

The ceremony, also featuring music and poetry, was followed by the traditional Riding event - the procession down the Royal Mile to the parliament with 1,500 politicians, performers, members of the public and "local heroes" nominated by MSPs.

"No-one would ever argue that Scottish politics is the business of the meek, the passive or the faint-hearted. As a close observer of every stage of this Parliament's life, I remain confident that you will manage to discharge your duty diligently and competently," the Queen said.

Scottish First Minister and SNP leader Alex Salmond also addressed Her Majesty and the chamber. He said: "This is a country increasingly comfortable in its own skin. We aspire to be more successful, more dynamic, fairer and greener... whatever constitutional path that the people of Scotland choose - and it is their choice to make - we will aspire to be, in your words, firm friends and equal partners."

The first minister also noted that, during the previous Scottish parliament before the Act of Union in 1707, the Queen's predecessors had "reigned over two sovereign nations - though there was nothing particularly unusual in that arrangement".

Gilty party: the Queen celebrates her Golden Jubilee

That ceremony came less than 24 hours after MPs debated in the Commons planned reforms to the way the Royal Family was funded. These changes could leave the monarchy looking like "something to be bought off the shop shelf at Tesco", according to Tory backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Deriding discussion of a "good value monarchy", he called on ministers to lavish enough public money on the Queen's household for the royal carriage to be "pulled through the streets of London... by the finest horses money can buy" and "gilded with the finest gold that can be bought".

Labour's Paul Flynn had provided the contrary view, arguing that the Royal Family should face the same financial disciplines as the poorest families in the UK.

MPs have been discussing the government's plans to replace appointed peers with elected ones, with concern expressed about the poor attendance of some life peers.

Labour's Thomas Docherty noted that Lord Heseltine has yet to make his maiden speech in the Lords, despite entering the House in 2001.

He challenged the noble lord's Conservative colleague Conor Burns on this point, but solidarity with Hezza seemed in short supply.

The MP recounted an exchange he had had with Baroness Thatcher on the subject, in which the former PM reportedly remarked acerbically: "Look on the bright side, at least we haven't had to listen to it."

Labour's Tom Watson described Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt's decision to continue to support News Corporation's full takeover of BSkyB as "a shady deal" that "would shame a banana republic". Labour's Barry Gardiner likened Rupert Murdoch to Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

In full: Urgent question: BSkyB

Mr Hunt rejected the opposition MPs' arguments, declaring that his approach to the takeover had been based on independent advice "at every stage" since he was aware that "no one is going to trust the motives of politicians" on the matter. He also stressed his decision to extend the consultation for the takeover.

Many peers accept that, with 828 members, the upper house is now too large

As the House of Lords gave its unanimous approval to plans to allow peers to take "voluntary retirement" for the first time, the government dismissed calls for outgoing members of the upper chamber to be handed redundancy payments.

Tory peer Lord Tebbit proposed an ingenious way (at 24 minutes and 50 seconds) of minimising costs if such payments were to be made: auctioning redundancies to the lowest bidders.

"It would have the added attraction that we could look at each other's estimates of much we valued ourselves," he added.

At the end of Prime Minister David Cameron's Commons grilling on his experiences at the recent EU summit, Tory backbencher Peter Bone prefaced his question with a reference to a mysterious constituent who has been particularly pleased by the PM's efforts to limit UK contributions to future EU bailouts.

Mrs Bone: Risque PM 'hilarious'

The lady in question turned out to be none other than the MP's wife, the subject of many of Mr Bone's recent parliamentary questions, whose dissatisfaction with government policies is one of many ways the independent-minded backbencher criticises his own front bench.

Mr Cameron provoked shrieks of laughter as he responded: "I feel that a very big part of my life is spent trying to give pleasure to Mrs Bone." Mrs Bone later joined her husband for an interview with BBC Parliament's Record Review in which she said she thought the risque jokes "hilarious".

As the government declared that there would soon be "drug-free wings" in prisons in England and Wales, Labour MP Kevin Brennan wondered whether inmates would be able to opt to stay in "wings where drugs are rife".

Justice Secretary Ken Clarke replied: "There are limits to the extent to which we enable them to have a choice of the suitability of their accommodation."

Edward Leigh, another independent-minded Conservative backbencher, lambasted the government for having failed to enact one of the Conservative Party's manifesto pledges - recognising marriage in the tax system - that reached the coalition agreement.

He suggested that his party's whips had been trying to stifle debate on the subject with "shufflings offstage" aimed at blocking a Tory backbench amendment to the budget-enacting Finance Bill.

But like Mark Pritchard last week, the fearless MP was not to be cowed. "I am not going to stand here and allow a solemn pledge not to be debated on the floor of the House of Commons," he protested.

House of Commons

If you missed it, the traditional Wednesday noon clash between Prime Minister David Cameron and Ed Miliband focused this week on NHS quangos, although many of the press gallery reporters chose to concentrate on apparent irritation from Conservative benches at the way the PM was cut off at the end of those exchanges by Speaker Bercow.

Also at Holyrood this week, BBC Scotland bosses have been told to "hang their heads in shame" by SNP MSP Willie Coffey for broadcasting documentary series The Scheme.

Mr Coffey argued that the programme was "tabloid TV at its worst".

Meanwhile, First Minister Alex Salmond faced a concerted attack from opposition party leaders who accused him of devoting his energy to rows with Westminster while failing to tackle Scotland's problems.

In Cardiff Bay, First Minister Carwyn Jones has said the Welsh Assembly government will call for tax-varying powers as part of a wider package of measures, including a review of the way the assembly is financed by Westminster and borrowing powers.

At Stormont, NI Justice Minister David Ford faced questions on an inmate at Maghaberrry Prison who was released six weeks early by mistake.

Health minister Edwin Poots also apologised to patients after an inquiry found serious deficiencies in the quality of care provided to patients at Belfast Dental Hospital .

Compiled by Democracy Live's Ed Lowther

democracylive@bbc.co.uk

View the original article here