The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 members known as members of Parliament (MPs). MPs are elected to represent constituencies by the first-past-the-post system and hold their seats until Parliament is dissolved.
Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in others that is a separate step. Under a modern constitutional monarchy, royal assent is considered little more than a formality. Even in nations such as the United Kingdom, Norway, the Netherlands, Liechtenstein and Monaco which still, in theory, permit their monarch to withhold assent to laws, the monarch almost never does so, except in a dire political emergency or on advice of government. While the power to veto by withholding royal assent was once exercised often by European monarchs, such an occurrence has been very rare since the eighteenth century.
The Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the House of Commons, the lower house and primary chamber of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The current speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, was elected Speaker on 4 November 2019, following the retirement of John Bercow. Hoyle began his first full parliamentary term in the role on 17 December 2019, having been unanimously re-elected after the 2019 general election.
Keith Robert Simpson, is a British Conservative Party politician and military historian who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Broadland from 2010 to 2019, having previously served as the MP for Mid Norfolk from 1997 to 2010.
Thomas Erskine May, 1st Baron Farnborough, was a British constitutional theorist and Clerk of the House of Commons.
The Clerk of the Parliaments is the chief clerk of the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The position has existed since at least 1315, and duties include preparing the minutes of Lords proceedings, advising on proper parliamentary procedure and pronouncing the Royal Assent. Many of the Clerk's duties are now fulfilled by his deputies and the Clerk of the Parliaments' Office.
The Clerk of the House of Commons is the chief executive of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and before 1707 of the House of Commons of England.
The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) is the Parliament of the United Kingdom's in-house source of independent, balanced and accessible analysis of public policy issues related to science and technology. POST serves both Houses of Parliament.
Sir Reginald Francis Douce Palgrave was a British civil servant who was Clerk of the House of Commons.
Sir Evan Paul Silk is a former clerk in the British House of Commons. He was formerly Clerk to the National Assembly for Wales from March 2001 to January 2007, the most senior official of the Assembly, and acted as the principal adviser to the Presiding Officer, responsible for all the services that are delivered to Assembly Members through the Assembly Parliamentary Service. In 2011, he was appointed as chair of the Commission on Devolution in Wales. In 2017 he was a member of the Expert Panel on Electoral Reform set up by the Assembly.
Reginald Earle Welby, 1st Baron Welby GCB, PC was a British peer, former Permanent Secretary to the Treasury and former President of the Royal Statistical Society.
Erskine May is a parliamentary authority originally written by British constitutional theorist and Clerk of the House of Commons, Thomas Erskine May.
Gilbert Francis Montriou Campion, 1st Baron Campion,, known as Sir Gilbert Campion between 1937 and 1950, was a British civil servant. He served as Clerk of the House of Commons from 1937 to 1948.
Sir David Stephens KCB CVO was a British public servant and Clerk of the Parliaments from 1963 to 1974. He was educated at Winchester College, Christ Church, Oxford and The Queen's College, Oxford.
Sir Francis William Lascelles KCB, MC was a British public servant and Clerk of the Parliaments from 1953 to 1958.
Sir David Richard Beamish, is a British public servant who was the Clerk of the Parliaments, the chief clerk in the House of Lords, between 16 April 2011 and 15 April 2017.
Robert James Rogers, Baron Lisvane, is a British life peer and retired public servant. He served as Clerk of the House of Commons from October 2011 until August 2014.
Sir David Lionel Natzler is a former Clerk of the House of Commons, the principal constitutional adviser to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, and adviser on all its procedure and business. He was the 50th person to hold the role. Appointed by letters patent in March 2015, he was designated acting Clerk upon the retirement of Sir Robert Rogers in August 2014. He announced his retirement in a letter to the Speaker on 14 November 2018.
Sir Frederic William Metcalfe was a British public servant. He was a former Clerk of the House of Commons and first Speaker of the House of Representatives of Nigeria.
Sir Charles Addison Somerville Snowden Gordon, KCB was an English parliamentary clerk.
