It dates from 1097 and its location in London’s history is nearly unique.

Charles I and the gunpowder plot conspirators were attempted there and in current years, Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama and today Queen – 4 times – have actually resolved parliament there.

However on the day MPs went back to the Commons after the Whitsun recess, a jam-packed Westminster Hall looked like the snake-like queuing locations of Disneyland, Alton Towers or a budget airline company check-in

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Conservative MP John Redwood (R) is seen queuing with colleagues in a yard on the parliamentary estate

These were not members of the public standing in line, nevertheless, however MPs waiting to vote on relocations by the Leader of the Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg, to ditch the so-called “remote parliament” and go back to the typical raucous, rowdy environment of the chamber and conventional voting in crowded, sweaty, heaving division lobbies.

The factor for the long queues: the speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, had actually stated that Public Health England had actually ruled the division lobbies were a health threat and a breeding place for COVID-19 when loaded with groaning, sneezing, coughing MPs throughout voting.

And vote for Mr Rees-Mogg’s reforms they did – ultimately. This socially distanced voting took a while. A long while.

About an hour-and- a-quarter for 2 votes, the time that would typically consider 4 or 5 departments.

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While this marathon of parliamentary democracy was going on, what was exposing and possibly even disconcerting was how some – even really senior – MPs do not understand their method around Westminster.

I personally performed what I consider as a public service when I needed to direct the Chancellor Rishi Sunak – the second most effective member of Boris Johnson’s federal government – from the Central Lobby to Westminster Hall.

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Conservative MP John Redwood (R) is seen queuing with colleagues in a yard on the parliamentary estate

“It’s not as if he’s in charge of anything important,” snarled a bad-tempered Labour MP who experienced my kindness.

He wasn’t the only lost soul. A variety of MPs of several years’ standing who should have actually understood much better, were similarly lost.

When the lost souls ultimately discovered their method to Westminster Hall, the first vote, turning down a plea to keep remote voting, was beat after almost 45 minutes by 242-185, which suggested just 427 of the 600+ MPs qualified to vote took part.

The second, authorizing Mr Rees-Mogg’s propositions by 261-163, took a simple half an hour or two. Due to the fact that a number of Tory rebels in the first vote stayed away in the second, the federal government’s bulk was larger this time.

Did the much shorter time considered the second division suggest MPs were mastering this socially distanced voting?

Well, 3 hours later on they had a chance to do it all once again, in a face-off on parliamentary border changes.

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MPs marking time to vote in your home of Commons

Throughout that vote, deputy Speaker Nigel Evans bought a variety of MPs using face masks to eliminate them, no doubt fearing there were imposters casting a vote!

Previously, Mr Rees-Mogg, lampooned as “the member for the 18th century” and well-known – or notorious – for resting and extending his long legs out on the federal government frontbench throughout a dispute in 2015, was making the case for a go back to the old methods.

Opening a dispute restricted to 90 minutes, he promoted almost 35, mostly due to taking lots of interventions, which irritated and frustrated the senior deputy speaker, Dame Eleanor Laing, who frantically attempted to accelerate procedures, not entirely effectively.

Ahead of the dispute, Labour’s cunning and smart primary whip, Nick Brown, had actually anticipated a”Rees-Mogg conga” , if just.. A minimum of the Cuban carnival dance moves at a good rate. This one was painfully sluggish.

Because MPs could not vote in the Aye and No lobbies and needed to remain 2 metres apart, they were required to queue in Westminster Hall prior to voting in the chamber itself. Lots of started queueing while the dispute was still going on, an excellent quarter of an hour prior to the division bell sounded.

However the line moved so gradually that MPs weren’t simply queuing in Westminster Hall. The line tracked back out into New Palace Backyard, under the underpass underneath Bridge Street and up the escalator into Portcullis House.

It was approximated that the line was 1km long – absolutely nothing if you’re waiting to see the tourist attractions at Disneyland or Alton Towers, however ideally longer than an airport check-in for flying economy.

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Jacob Rees Mogg responding to concerns in your home of Commons

Critics would no doubt state that MPs aren’t utilized to queuing to flyeconomy And they didn’t like this experience one bit. When they returned to the Central Lobby after the first vote,

There was lots of groaning.

Problems like “ridiculous”, “shambles” and “****-up in a brewery” spluttered from the lips of gasping, sweating honourable members, particularly those who needed to queue outdoors in the heat of New Palace Backyard. Lots of MPs tweeted their inconvenience.

After the turmoil and confusion, one senior Tory MP declared some MPs had actually intentionally strolled along the line in a quote to humiliate Mr Rees-Mogg. Certainly not? Die the idea.

If true, that will have been clocked by the speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, who took himself from the chair to observe personally what was going on throughout the vote.

Another cunning operator, the speaker. His letter to MPs on the eve of these votes recommended that Sir Lindsay was no fan of what Mr Rees-Mogg was proposing.

He will most likely have actually concluded that after these farcical scenes, socially distanced voting along these lines does not work.

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Not just does it omit the similarity Tory MP Robert Halfon, who could not pertain to vote since of a medical condition, and Labour’s Margaret Hodge, who is too old at 75, however the entire procedure takes too long and is a wild-goose chase.

And if the federal government continues with votes like these, what’s to stop Labour – or the SNP or Lib Dems, for that matter – requiring votes for the hell of it when they would not typically, simply to trigger the federal government sorrow?

The federal government’s objective in trying to bring the Commons back to typical was to set an example to the public.

However it does appear unfair to disenfranchise MPs on the premises of medical conditions, age, pregnancy, maternity leave or other elements.

With the cushion of its 80- seat bulk, the federal government has won these votes easily.

Ever the traditionalist, Mr Rees-Mogg does not wish to pave the way to his challengers on remote voting since he does not wish to run the risk of the possibility of it ending up being irreversible.

However for as long as COVID-19 guidelines and Public Health England’s cautions stay in location, we have not heard the last of this row.

However a minimum of the chancellor understands the method from the Central Lobby to Westminster Hall now. I hope!

The post Long queues and lost MPs: Socially distanced voting didn’t go all that well in Westminster appeared first on World Weekly News.