Q 01/05

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

A) The King's Speech debate

B) The Budget

C) Prime Minister's Questions

D) The Adjournment Debate

Answer · why

B) The Budget

The Budget is the one speech a Chancellor may deliver with a drink in hand: Geoffrey Howe chose gin and tonic and Gladstone sherry with a beaten egg, ...

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 filled the seat meant to symbolise England's medieval wool trade, so the Woolsack was re-stuffed with a blend of wool from the British Isles...

Q 03/05

At the State Opening of Parliament, an MP is held 'hostage' 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. The hostage, usually a government whip who holds the post of Vice-Chamberlain of the Household, waits at Buckingham Palace and is relea...

Q 04/05

What official title was given to Larry, Downing Street's cat since 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; recruited from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home under David Cameron, he has stayed put ever since and o...

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; an MP who defies the par...