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04 June 2020 / John Cooper KC
Issue: 7889 / Categories: Features , Profession
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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

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Partner joinscorporate and finance practice in British Virgin Islands

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Firm strengthens children department with adoption and surrogacy expert

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Media and technology expert joins employment team as partner in Cambridge

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A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
The winners of the LexisNexis Legal Awards 2026 have now been announced, marking another outstanding celebration of excellence, innovation, and impact across the legal profession
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
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