Parliament Tour: The State Apartments of Speaker’s House, London

A description of the brand new tour at the Houses of Parliament. The tours take in the historic Speaker’s House and we learn much about the office of Speaker along the way.

Speaker’s House

I must credit one of my favourite blogs, ianvisits.co.uk, with tipping me off about this opportunity to see a historic London space that is normally inaccessible to the public. Thanks Ian! I might not otherwise have known that the Houses of Parliament had added a new tour to their offering. Or at least not in time to get a ticket. This new tour takes in Speaker’s House; part of Sir Lindsay Hoyle’s effort to make the office of Speaker of the House of Commons more accessible.

The exterior of the Houses of Parliament looks very historic, but in fact is an exercise in high Victorian Gothic. There is an older core to the building though, which was originally the Palace of Westminster. This historic section is what you can see in the images for this post; there are no photos once you’re in Speaker’s House so you have to get your fill in Westminster Hall. The first palace was built here in the 11th Century. It then became the primary residence of the royal family until they moved to Whitehall after a fire in 1512. It was a fire which caused the Victorian rebuild as well; in 1834 fire gutted the Old Palace, and made way for the New. Architect Charles Barry won the commission, and worked with Augustus Pugin for the interiors.

The Speaker of the House of Commons, essentially the person who keeps order in Parliament and ensures respect for the rules, has lived on site since the late 18th Century. The office of Speaker is still a challenging one. Absolute neutrality is a necessity, as well as keeping a lid on all the bad behaviour that MPs can display. Plus they have to select the business of each day. It used to be even more difficult. Even if we exclude the time period when being Speaker could put your life at risk, past Speakers were not allowed so much as a toilet break. Even when parliamentary sessions ran for many hours. No wonder they needed to live close by.

What Is There To See?

The office of Speaker was ahead of the trend of live/work spaces. It’s a bit like visiting a royal residence or stately home, where there are public spaces for receiving visitors, and very separate private spaces. The tour is of the former, but even with that restriction there is plenty to see.

To give you a sense of the space first of all, you come up a grand staircase in the centre of the Speaker’s public rooms. We visited the Speaker’s office, where he meets with his team when Parliament is sitting to select urgent questions etc. This was followed by a couple of reception rooms with lovely views overlooking the Thames, before we entered a formal dining room which has played host to people like the Queen Mother, Mussolini and Nancy Pelosi (imagine that dinner party!).

The final room is interesting: the Speaker’s House contains a State Bedroom. The idea behind this is that a new monarch would sleep here the night before their coronation, before heading across the street to Westminster Abbey the following morning. There is a very grand bed for this purpose. Although according to our guide, the most use the bed got was when it was sold off and a lady gave birth in it! After a little surge of interest in the whereabouts of the bed, it was reacquired in the early 1980s.

Other than the rooms themselves, there is of course quite an art collection, mainly of various Speakers over the centuries. Including at least one purportedly singed in the fire of 1834 but saved by being thrown from a window. You can also see gifts to Speakers from foreign counterparts. And dotted along the walls, you can see the coats of arms of all the speakers. Those who don’t have any on taking office can commission them from the College of Arms (which we once saw here).

Should I Keep An Eye Out For Tickets?

I really enjoyed my visit to Speaker’s House. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable. She shared a lot of information about the office of Speaker and historic Speakers. Plus Sir Lindsay Hoyle’s tenure which has led to this newfound welcome to the public. There is a good balance between education on parliamentary matters, architectural and design interest, and interesting historic anecdotes.

One aspect which may not be for everyone is the reverence with which they treat the subject. This is very understandable from the perspective of the guides. And it isn’t dissimilar to when I’ve visited the gardens of Buckingham Palace or various stately homes. When a historic place is still used for its original purpose day to day, there is not much room for irreverence or talking about some of the less well-behaved occupants.

This was my first time visiting the Houses of Parliament. As you would expect there is a lot of security. And various rules in place like the photo policy I mentioned before. Leave plenty of time to get to your tour’s starting point. And if you would like to see the Speaker’s House for yourself, I suggest looking for some kind of mailing list so you can snap up a future ticket quickly. They can only run during parliamentary recesses, so are not the most frequently offered tours.

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 3.5/5