MPS hot under collar as they cut ties with tradition
THE House of Commons chamber is so bound by tradition that MPS may not address each other by name, refer to the House of Lords or conduct business without a gilded mace on a table in front of them.
But a quiet revolution took place yesterday which means the Commons will never be quite the same again.
Male MPS will no longer be expected to wear neckties in the chamber after John Bercow, the Speaker, decided they were not “essential”. In doing so, Mr Bercow swept aside more than 100 years of tradition during which jackets and ties were considered a vital sign of respect for the House.
The move was welcomed by the Liberal Democrat MP whose tieless appearance in the Commons prompted the ruling by Mr Bercow. But other MPS got rather hot under the collar, describing the decision as “shocking” or evidence of “dumbing down”.
The walls of convention came tumbling down after Tom Brake, the Lib Dem international trade spokesman, appeared in the chamber on Wednesday in a blue open-necked shirt and was allowed by the Speaker to ask a question.
It prompted the Conservative MP Peter Bone to raise a point of order in the Commons yesterday, asking the Speaker whether it meant the rules had changed.
Mr Bercow, the man who decided in 2009 that the Speaker should no longer wear a wig or stockings, replied: “The general expectation is that members should dress in business-like attire.
“So far as the chair is concerned I must say, this will gravely displease him, as long as a member arrives in the House in business-like attire the question of whether that member is wearing a tie is not absolutely front and centre stage.
“So am I minded not to call a member simply because that member is not wearing a tie? No.”
Erskine May, the book of rules which govern the House, states: “It remains the custom for gentlemen Members to wear jackets and ties, but the Speaker has not enforced the practice in all circumstances.”
Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, is among those to have rebelled by appearing tieless in the Commons in the past, but no Speaker has ever been asked to clarify the dress code until now. Mr Brake told the Telegraph: “There are many respects in which Parliament discriminates against women but dress is one of the areas where Parliament discriminates against men.
“Women have a much wider range of choices than men do and I think the Speaker is right to relax the dress code and I am very pleased with that. I wouldn’t, however, expect him to be comfortable if I turned up in
my running shorts and running vest.” He added: “If Parliament wants to be more representative then when all people see on television when they look at the chamber is men in dark suits I don’t think that necessarily gives the right sort of diverse image.”
Mr Bone said: “I think to a certain extent it’s for the worse. What we are seeing is that we are removing wigs from clerks and we are downgrading – the Speaker will call it modernising – I would call it sort of dumbing down in a dress sense.
“It’s a matter of opinion but I thought the rule that male colleagues had to wear a tie was perfectly reasonable.”
He insisted the wearing of ties was not a “burning issue” and that MPS have “more important things to do”.
The Conservative MP Geoffrey Cox tweeted: “Shocking. Tieless. Where will it all end?”