Lesson 2. Part 1. Whips, backbenchers and the whole house are prorogued James keeps playing with Lappy. Help him.

1. Work in pairs. Discuss the following questions.

Where does the British Parliament sit? How does the Parliamentary session start? How do the parties coordinate their MPs’ work? Who coordinates it? Where do the bills start? Where do they go then? How often can an MP or Lord take the floor during the discussion of a bill? Can MPs vote as they please? How does the voting procedure look like? What happens if the Govern­ment loses an important vote? What happens if the number of the votes cast is equal? Can outsiders follow the Parliament’s proceedings? How? Are the government executives present at the Parliament meetings? Can MPs ask questions to them? How often and for how long? Can MPs ask questions to the Prime Minister? How often and for how long?

2. Work in pairs. Match 1-9 with A-I and 10-19 with J-R.

A	B	A	B
1. faction	A. bring to an end meetings of a parliament until a stated day	10. free vote	J. to choose not to vote for or against something
2. division	B. Parliament	11. nay	I. disobey
3. Westminster	C. important member of a British political party whose job is to make sure that the party MPs obey party orders	12. defy	K. the word used to say ‘yes’ when voting
		13. aye	L. the word used to say ‘no’ when voting
4. Chief Whip	D. ordinary British MP with no important official position	14. casting vote	M. situation when MPs are free how to vote
5. reading	E. formal suggestion made at a meeting to be voted on	15. abstain	N. the vote of the Speaker, when votes divided equally
6. prorogue	F. group of MPs that belong to the same political party	16. Hansard	O. time when any MP may ask questions to ministers
7. division lobbies	G. process in which MPs vote by dividing into groups	17. put the question	P. ask MPs to express their opinions (by voting)
8. motion	H. one of the occasions when a suggested new law is discussed	18. supplementary question	Q. official record of the UK Parliament’s meetings
9. backbencher	I. rooms where MPs vote	19. Question Time	R. MP’s additional question during Question Time

3. Fill in the gaps in the sentences below with the words from column A in exercise 2.

1. At _________ (a) Time the Prime Minister is backed by the civil servants, who brief him and try to anticipate _________ (b) questions. 2. After the second _________ (c) of the Industrial Relations Bill was over, the Speaker _________ (d) whether to agree with the _________ (e) or not. 3. Following the meeting of the party Parliamentary _________ (f), the _________ (g) passed on the opinions of _________ (h) to the party leaders. 4. The Parliament sits in the Palace of _________ (i), often called the Houses of Parliament. 5. Vote is carried out by a _________ (j): MPs walk through one of two _________ (k), one for those in favour (the _________ (l)) and one for those against (the _________ (m)). 6. Sometimes, when MPs cannot decide how to vote, they _________ (n). 7. Generally the Whips tell their MPs how they should vote, but occasionally they_________ (o) their Whip. 8. Sometimes there happens a _______ (p), when MPs can vote as they please and not according to Whip’s instructions. 9. The Speaker gives a _________ (q) if the voting result is equal. 10. Following the Queen’s Speech, which can later be found in _______ (r), Parliament is _______ (s) for a week.

4.You will hear the speaker talking about the work of Parliament in Britain. As you listen, complete the information sheet for questions 1-21. Use 1-7 words for each gap. You will hear the recording twice.

The Parliament starts its work at __________________ (1)

Monarchs can’t enter the Commons because_________ (2)

After its opening the Parliament is prorogued for______ (3)

The Parliament sits in the building of ______________ (4)

The Government’s job is to ____________________ (5)

The Opposition’s job is to ________________________ (6)