Q 01/05

At which annual Commons occasion may the minister speaking drink alcohol, otherwise forbidden in the chamber?

A) The King's Speech

B) The Budget

C) Prime Minister's Questions

D) The Adjournment Debate

Answer · why

B) The Budget

The Budget is the one speech during which the Chancellor may drink whatever they wish: past choices include Geoffrey Howe's gin and tonic and Kenneth ...

Q 02/05

In 1938 the Woolsack, the seat of whoever presides over the Lords, was found to be stuffed with what?

A) Cotton waste

B) Feathers

C) Horsehair

D) Sawdust

Answer · why

C) Horsehair

Horsehair had replaced the wool, so the Woolsack was re-stuffed with wool from the British Isles and 15 Commonwealth countries as a symbol of Britain'...

Q 03/05

At the State Opening of Parliament, an MP is kept 'hostage' at Buckingham Palace to guarantee whose safe return?

A) The Speaker

B) Black Rod

C) The prime minister

D) The sovereign

Answer · why

D) The sovereign

The sovereign's safety is the point: the hostage is usually the Vice-Chamberlain of the Household, a whip, who is released once the monarch is back at...

Q 04/05

What official title was given to Larry, the tabby cat who moved into 10 Downing Street in 2011?

A) Official Ratcatcher to the Treasury

B) Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office

C) Keeper of the Number 10 Garden

D) Warden of the Downing Street Gates

Answer · why

B) Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office

Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office is Larry's title; a stray from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, he arrived in 2011 under David Cameron and went on to ou...

Q 05/05

The parliamentary 'whip' who keeps MPs voting with their party borrows the title from a role in which pursuit?

A) Horse racing

B) Cattle droving

C) Hunting with hounds

D) Driving a stagecoach

Answer · why

C) Hunting with hounds

Hunting with hounds gave Parliament the 'whipper-in', the huntsman's assistant who drives straying hounds back into the pack; the political sense was ...