The Old Crem 3,583 Posted May 27 26 minutes ago, Ulitzer95 said: Mother of the House isn’t a real title. It’s just something Harriet Harman coined for herself so she felt special. True but it has been used in the commons as a description quite a bit since and I think will become a title from now on. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ulitzer95 12,584 Posted May 27 43 minutes ago, The Old Crem said: True but it has been used in the commons as a description quite a bit since and I think will become a title from now on. Doesn’t work like that. Father of the House has a function. “Mother” does not. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sean 6,314 Posted May 27 5 minutes ago, Ulitzer95 said: Doesn’t work like that. Father of the House has a function. “Mother” does not. Unless the mother of the house was the longest serving continuous MP presumably? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ulitzer95 12,584 Posted May 27 2 minutes ago, Sean said: Unless the mother of the house was the longest serving continuous MP presumably? In that situation I don’t even think they’ll re-term it. “Father of the House” is the name of the title, regardless of their gender. I’m not sure what they’ll do in the U.S. in the eventual situation where there’s a female President. Some countries and states use “First Gentleman”. Others ignore the husband completely and don’t include them in the lineage of First Lady title holders. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sean 6,314 Posted May 27 50 minutes ago, Ulitzer95 said: In that situation I don’t even think they’ll re-term it. “Father of the House” is the name of the title, regardless of their gender. I’m not sure what they’ll do in the U.S. in the eventual situation where there’s a female President. Some countries and states use “First Gentleman”. Others ignore the husband completely and don’t include them in the lineage of First Lady title holders. Depends who the first woman to get the title is.If they are a traditionalist they may be OK with being called father of the house however someone less traditional may want to change it . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sly Ronnie 879 Posted May 27 I wonder how many MPs that were elected in the 1980s will be left by the time Parliament will meet in July? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RoverAndOut 4,746 Posted May 27 2 hours ago, Ulitzer95 said: In that situation I don’t even think they’ll re-term it. “Father of the House” is the name of the title, regardless of their gender. I’m not sure what they’ll do in the U.S. in the eventual situation where there’s a female President. Some countries and states use “First Gentleman”. Others ignore the husband completely and don’t include them in the lineage of First Lady title holders. Well, if we're going to have the argument, let's get it right. Father of the House is a conventional term anyway. It's always referred to the longest serving MP, who has always happened to be a man. The only function they perform is the election of a speaker, that has only happened since 1971 and in the Standing Order giving them that function, they refer to the "longest serving member of the house" only. In the 21st century, there's no way a woman will accept being Father of the House, she'll be Mother of the House. Anyway, no guarantee it's going to matter for a while. Sir Edward Leigh (Con) is the longest serving member to be standing for re-election, then after him it's Jeremy Corbyn (Ind), Sir Roger Gale (Con) and Sir David Davis (Con) before we get to a woman (Diane Abbott, Lab or Ind, yet to be decided). Those are the only remaining members elected in the 1980s - Gale and Davis are fighting for newly named seats following the boundary changes. There's a further 4 Tories attempting to get re-elected before we get to another woman, Dame Angela Eagle who is pretty much guaranteed re-election. @Sly Ronnie, think this answers your query too. 3 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Movies&Tennis 51 Posted May 27 I'll also point out that there's an 'unofficial' Baby of the House as well, the youngest MP by age. Father of the House is, as RoverandOut says, basically an honourary function that works only at the beginning of the Parliament. I believe the Father of the House also gets to speak first in debates after the frontbenches...but otherwise it has just as much meaning as Mother of the House. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brad252 807 Posted May 27 19 hours ago, Sean said: Jonathan Gullis (Almost certain to lose and hardly a big beast) He does act like a beast though. https://x.com/i/status/1486830335883104257 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
