header-logo header-logo

04 June 2020 / John Cooper KC
Issue: 7889 / Categories: Features , Profession
printer mail-detail

PMQs & the art of advocacy

22070
Watching Johnson v Starmer at the dispatch box is fascinating, says John Cooper QC

Many of you will have noted a distinct change in style as to the way Boris Johnson (pictured left) is questioned at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) and it is fair to say that every person brings their own approach to this important opportunity, designed to extract information, clarity and transparency in respect of the Prime Minister’s conduct of affairs.

The concept of asking the Prime Minister questions in the House of Commons was first introduced in 1881 under the office of William Gladstone as Prime Minister, and in 1961 the process was updated with questions to the PM being taken for two fixed periods on a Tuesday and Thursday with the very first question addressed to Harold Macmillan by Labour’s Fenner Brockway, who began on the 18 July 1961 with: ‘May I express our appreciation of this new arrangement for answering questions and hope that it will be convenient for the Prime Minister as

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Switalskis—five appointments

Switalskis—five appointments

Firm expands national abuse compensation team

Mathys & Squire—nine promotions

Mathys & Squire—nine promotions

IP firm announces new partners and senior promotions across UK offices

Carey Olsen—five promotions

Carey Olsen—five promotions

Carey Olsen promotes five lawyers to the partnership

NEWS
Executors may be overlooking billions of pounds in estate assets hidden in forgotten investments and misplaced share certificates
Britain’s booming non-surgical cosmetics market is operating in what some critics describe as a regulatory ‘Wild West’
Family contact disputes are becoming an increasingly prominent feature of Court of Protection litigation
Material obtained through US discovery applications may have a much longer legal life than many litigants realise
English courts are developing a distinctly practical approach to sanctions disputes arising from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
back-to-top-scroll