I love tradition in lawmaking.

[theweaselking]

"The formal question on the Order Paper is to ask the Prime Minister if he will list his engagements for the day, after which the MP may ask a supplementary question about any subject which might occupy the Prime Minister's time.

The reason for asking the Prime Minister about his engagements is because, until recently, any member of the cabinet could answer the posed question, allowing the Prime Minister to avoid having to answer any questions himself, but once someone answers a question, they are obliged to answer follow up questions (on any topic). The only question that the Prime Minister had to answer personally was his list of engagements for the week, hence he is asked this question first, and all subsequent questions are follow up questions, forcing the Prime Minister to answer the questions himself."

British parliamentary traditions rule.

Comments

[matgb]

Fairly sure that it's been updated since, and the engagements question has been dumped; he now just gives them at the start of the session. Now, any questions written down have to be an actual question.

But the, what would I know compared to the wondes of Wikipedia?

Mat Bowles. BA (Politics), University of Exeter ;-)

I may look it up and edit that pile of arse article at some point, but, well, I have better things to avoid doing with my time.

[sivi-volk.livejournal.com]

Still, cool.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

> Fairly sure that it's been updated since, and the engagements question has
> been dumped; he now just gives them at the start of the session.

It does say "until recently".

Too bad, though, because that's a funny tradition.