Speaker's Lectures

The series of Speaker's Lectures were initiated by John Bercow, the Speaker of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, from 2011. To mark the centenary of the Parliament Act 1911, Bercow commissioned a series of 11 lectures throughout 2011 covering some of the main political figures of the century. Each lecture was given to an invited audience in Speaker's House and was recorded for broadcast on BBC Parliament. In 2012 Bercow instituted a new 11 lecture series on the subject of the 'Great Offices of State' (those of Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary). In 2013 the lectures were on the subject of 'Parliaments and Parliamentarians', given by leading Parliamentarians who have experience of other legislatures. The 2014 series concentrated on individual policy areas.

1911 Centenary lectures

The subjects were:^[1]

• David Lloyd George by Lord Morgan, 11 January
• F. E. Smith by Sir Peter Tapsell MP, 1 February
• Nancy Astor by Shirley Williams, 29 March
• Sir Winston Churchill by Nicholas Soames MP, 26 April
• Aneurin Bevan by Gordon Marsden MP, 17 May
• Enoch Powell by Lord Norton of Louth, 14 June
• Michael Foot by Lord Kinnock, 12 July
• Iain Macleod by Lord Hurd, 6 September
• Roy Jenkins by Lord Adonis, 25 October
• Margaret Thatcher by John Whittingdale MP, 15 November
• Tony Benn by Tristram Hunt MP, 6 December

Great Offices of State lectures

In introducing the first lecture, Bercow noted that his assistant had spotted that there were 11 sitting Members who had served in one or more of these offices but had not been Prime Minister, and that all had accepted his invitation to give a lecture. The lecturers were:^[2]

• Kenneth Clarke (Home Secretary 1992–93, Chancellor of the Exchequer 1993–97), 24 January
• Alistair Darling (Chancellor of the Exchequer 2007–10), 20 February
• Theresa May (Home Secretary since 2010), 26 March
• Malcolm Rifkind (Foreign Secretary 1995–97), 23 April
• David Blunkett (Home Secretary 2001–04), 15 May
• David Miliband (Foreign Secretary 2007–10), 19 June
• Jack Straw (Home Secretary 1997–2001, Foreign Secretary 2001–06), 15 July
• Margaret Beckett (Foreign Secretary 2006–07), 11 September
• George Osborne (Chancellor of the Exchequer since 2010), 22 October
• Alan Johnson (Home Secretary 2009–10), 5 November
• William Hague (Foreign Secretary since 2010), 18 December

Parliaments and Parliamentarians lectures

The lecturers were:^[3]

• Lord Alderdice (Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly 1998-2004), 29 January
• Keith Vaz MP on the Parliament of India, February
• Lord Steel (Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament 1999-2003), 18 March
• Lord Davies of Stamford on the National Assembly of France, April
• Lord Boateng on the Parliament of South Africa, Parliament of Ghana and the Parliament of Somaliland, 20 May
• Lord Elis-Thomas (Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales 1999–2011), 11 June
• Gisela Stuart MP on the German Bundestag, 2 July
• Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke on the Parliament of Australia, 28 October
• Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne on the European Parliament, 10 December
• Baroness Williams of Crosby on the United States Congress, 18 December

Parliamentarians on Public Policy lectures

The lectures and subjects are:^[4]

• Lord Norton of Louth on Parliament and Political Parties, 21 January
• Dame Tessa Jowell on Parliament and the Press, 25 February
• John Redwood on Parliament and Economic Policy, 18 March
• Frank Field on Parliament and Social Policy, 8 April
• Sir Malcolm Rifkind on Parliament and Foreign Policy and War, May
• Tristram Hunt on Parliament and the Crown, June
• Lord Heseltine on Parliament and Industrial Policy, 18 June
• Harriet Harman on Parliament and Equality, 8 July
• Sir Menzies Campbell on Parliament and Justice, September
• David Davis on Parliament and Liberty, 22 October
• Lord Hennessy on Parliament and the State, 18 November
• Sir Tony Baldry on Parliament and the Church, 16 December

Historical Parliamentarians lectures

The 2015 series covered famous Parliamentarians from history.

• William Hague on William Pitt the Younger, 13 January.
• Lord Hurd of Westwell on Benjamin Disraeli, 24 March.
• Lord Bew on Charles Stewart Parnell, 19 May.
• Kwasi Kwarteng on Lord Palmerston, 9 June.
• Lord Lexden on the Earl of Shaftesbury, 30 June.
• Lord Williams of Elvel on Harold Macmillan, 14 July.
• Sir Bill Cash on John Bright, 15 September.
• Jesse Norman on Edmund Burke, 27 October.
• Lord Norton of Louth on Eleanor Rathbone, 3 November
• Lord Cormack on William Wilberforce, 10 November.
• Tristram Hunt on John Pym, 8 December.

References