House of Commons

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Boris Johnson, Lawmakers Spar Over COVID Parties
Boris Johnson: 'I Did Not Lie'
Mar 22, 2023 6:15 PM CDT

Boris Johnson: 'I Did Not Lie'

Lawmakers question former prime minister about parties he hosted during lockdown

(Newser) - UK lawmakers questioned Boris Johnson for more than three tense hours on Wednesday, pressing him about whether events he hosted while prime minister broke COVID lockdown rules and drawing defiant denials that he misled them. A House of Commons committee is investigating assurances Johnson made to Parliament after parties at...

MP Resigns After Watching Porn in House of Commons

Neil Parish says he'd intended to look at tractors

(Newser) - A British lawmaker from the governing Conservative Party has resigned after admitting he watched pornography on his phone in the House of Commons chamber. Neil Parish, a member of Parliament since 2010, announced his decision Saturday after pressure from members of his own party who sought to defuse sleaze allegations...

Boris Johnson Defends Female Lawmaker After Paper's Slam

I 'deplore the misogyny directed at her anonymously today,' PM says of Angela Rayner

(Newser) - Boris Johnson is trying to distance himself from a new controversy in British politics, one revolving around a newspaper article condemned as misogynistic. Over the weekend, the Mail on Sunday quoted anonymous lawmakers from Johnson's Conservative Party who accused opposition lawmaker Angela Rayner of trying to distract Johnson in...

Colleague on Boris Johnson: 'Dead Man Walking'

After apology over party, even Tory MPs say the PM may have to go

(Newser) - Boris Johnson confirmed Wednesday that he attended a garden party at 10 Downing Street in May 2020 in the midst of a coronavirus lockdown, for which there are growing calls for his resignation. Speaking in the House of Commons, the British prime minister offered "heartfelt apologies" after admitting he...

Canadian Lawmaker Gives Colleagues an Accidental Show

William Amos said he stripped down in front of camera, not realizing it was on

(Newser) - A Canadian member of parliament appeared naked in front of his colleagues Wednesday when he changed out of jogging clothes in his office—right in front of his camera. Liberal MP William Amos, the parliamentary secretary to Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, was seen completely naked during a virtual parliamentary session,...

No More Pints or Pimm's Here for Now

Alcohol sales banned in British Parliament's bars, restaurants as COVID restrictions are tightened

(Newser) - Don't expect to grab a pint at your favorite Parliament watering hole anytime soon. Starting Saturday, alcohol is banned at all House of Commons venues, in what Speaker of the House Sir Lindsay Hoyle says is an attempt to bring the governmental institution "into line with the national...

Hidden Doorway From 17th Century Found in Parliament

Inside the forgotten passageway, a mason wrote of his love of beer

(Newser) - Historians have made a surprise discovery during restoration work at the UK House of Commons: a long-forgotten passageway built for a king and used by the country's first prime minister and other political luminaries of the past. The passage, built for Charles II's coronation procession, wasn't exactly...

4 Dead, Including Attacker, in London Terrorist Attack

Attacker mowed down pedestrians, stabbed a police officer

(Newser) - A knife-wielding man went on a deadly rampage at the heart of Britain's seat of power Wednesday, first using what NBC News describes as a 4x4 vehicle to mow down pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge before stabbing an armed police officer to death inside the gates of Parliament....

On Parliament Floor, Scottish MP Recounts Her Rape

'I am not a victim; I am a survivor,' says Michelle Thomson

(Newser) - Two women shared extremely personal stories of rape in the UK House of Commons on the United Nations' International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women Thursday. Their stories left fellow MPs in tears, but it was Scottish MP Michelle Thomson, who represents Edinburgh West, whose words are being...

Meanwhile, in Canada, Parliament Debates Use of 'Fart'

The word is 'distinctly unparliamentary,' says Elizabeth May

(Newser) - While several world leaders were preoccupied with climate change , Canada was debating a far more important issue: whether "fart" is an appropriate word to use in parliament. While giving what she called "an impassioned speech " about unemployment and tax increases in Alberta in the House of Commons...

Queen Officially Makes Gay Marriage Legal for Brits

After bill cleared final hurdle in Parliament

(Newser) - Queen Elizabeth II today put her John Hancock on what the Telegraph describes as "one of the most radical pieces of social legislation of her reign": a bill making gay marriage legal throughout England and Wales. The signing was a formality, after the bill cleared its final hurdle in...

UK House of Commons Passes Gay Marriage

But bill still has to pass House of Lords to become law

(Newser) - The UK's House of Commons overwhelmingly voted to pass a bill legalizing same-sex marriage today, by a vote of 400 to 175, the BBC reports. The bill allows religious organizations to conduct gay marriages if they so choose; same-sex couples to convert their civil partnerships to marriages; and married...

Forget Tea Parties: Irate Brits Talking 'Bout a Revolution

Decades-long tensions come to the fore over latest scandal

(Newser) - Britain’s embattled politicians may have another revolution on their hands, but this time one that’s brewing on their own soil. Citizens are fuming over outrageous personal expenditures—including a miniature “duck house” and the clearing of a moat—by members of Parliament, but tensions have been simmering...

Canada Apologizes to Indigenous Groups

Ottawa admits abuse of native cultures

(Newser) - Canada formally apologized to its indigenous peoples yesterday for forcing children to attend government-run schools where they were often sexually and physically abused. Prime Minister Stephen Harper read the apology in Parliament, calling the forced assimilation a "sad chapter" in the nation's history that damaged several generations, the Globe ...

Brown Proposes Significant Power Shift

PM seeks new role for Parliament, bill of rights, lower voting age

(Newser) - Gordon Brown used his first appearance before the House of Commons as PM yesterday to unveil a surprising slate of power-shifting reforms, including limiting his right to declare war and lowering the voting age to 16. The initiatives, which also include development of a bill of rights, could radically alter...

British Peers Could Lose Their Perch

House of Commons wants counterpart Lords to be elected

(Newser) - British peers took it on the chin last night as their confrères in the House of Commons voted to make the House of Lords 100 percent elected, ending the rights of title-holders to inherit their seats. If a larger reform plan passes, the Lords could find elected members in...

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