The Lord Speaker, Lord Fowler, gives the seventh Michael Ryle Memorial Lecture
View this talk about the future of the House of Lords, delivered on 10 December 2020. The text of the lecture is here.
Kenneth Clarke in conversation with Meg Russell
View this video of Kenneth Clarke, former Father of the House of Commons, in conversation with Professor Meg Russell, Director of the Constitution Unit, in a joint SPG/Constitution Unit event on 27 February 2020.
Annual Conference, 10-11 January 2020
The Group held its annual conference at Cohen Quad, Exeter College,
Oxford. Topics discussed included the use of data for scrutiny, Parliament and the Law, current academic research, Gender Sensitive Parliaments and a discussion with Chris Bryant MP. The second Michael Wheeler-Booth Memorial Lecture was given by Meg Hillier MP.
The Group held its annual conference at Cohen Quad, Exeter College,
Oxford. Topics discussed included the use of mini-assemblies (of the public), minority government and legislatures, current academic research, and various aspects of Brexit, including Parliament's role so far and the roles of the UK's legislatures after Brexit. The first Michael Wheeler-Booth Memorial Lecture was given by Rt Hon Carwyn Jones AM, First Minister of Wales 2009-18.
Michael Ryle Memorial Lecture
The fifth annual Michael Ryle Memorial Lecture was given by Lady Hale, President of the Supreme Court, in the River Room, House of Lords, on 14 November 2018. The topic was "Should the Law Lords have left the House of Lords?".
Annual Conference, 5-7 January 2018
The Group held its annual conference at Worcester College,
Oxford. Topics discussed included the Scottish Parliament's Commission on Parliamentary Reform, Parliamentary scrutiny on trade agreements after Brexit; Budgetary and financial processes; the Lord Speaker's Committee on the size of the House of Lords.
Michael Ryle Memorial Lecture
The fourth annual Michael Ryle Memorial Lecture was given by the Lord Chief Justice, the Rt Hon Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, in the River Room, House of Lords, on 15 June 2017. The topic was "The Judiciary within the State: the Relationship between the Branches of the State".
Annual Conference, 6-8 January 2017
The Group held its annual conference at Worcester College,
Oxford. Topics discussed included aspects of Brexit, restoration and renewal of the Palace of Westminster, innovation in select committees, Parliamentary participation and opposition in Parliament and assemblies.
Michael Ryle Memorial Lecture
The third annual Michael Ryle Memorial Lecture was given by Professor Lord Norton of Louth in the Speaker's State Apartments on 19 July 2016. The subject was: "Speaking for Parliament".
Annual Conference, 8-10 January 2016
The Group held its annual conference at Worcester College,
Oxford. Topics discussed included "English Votes for English Laws", financial scrutiny, gender and diversity, petitions and public engagement, and the Strathclyde Review on the powers of the House of Lords.
Michael Ryle Memorial Lecture
The second annual Michael Ryle Memorial Lecture was given by Sir David Butler in the Speaker's State Apartments on 16 July 2015. The subject was: "Elections transformed".
Annual Conference, 9-11 January 2015
The Group held its annual conference at Worcester College,
Oxford. Topics discussed included the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, the impact of
the Scottish Independence Referendum, and codifying the constitution.
Michael Ryle memorial lecture, 30 June 2014
The Speaker of the House of Commons, Rt Hon. John Bercow MP, gave the Michael Ryle memorial lecture on 30 June in the Speaker's
State Apartments. As well as members of the Study of Parliament Group, several of Michael's former colleagues were present, and
some of his family and friends.
A transcript of the speech is on the Parliamentary Website.
Michael Ryle, who died on 7 December 2013, at the age of 86, founded the Study of Parliament Group in 1964 with political scientist Bernard Crick. He was a House of Commons Clerk, serving from 1951 to 1989, when he
had reached the post of Clerk of Committees, in charge of the House's system of select committees.
Read more about Michael in his obituary in the Independent, by former MP Tam Dalyell.
Prisoner Voting and the Constitution: Seminar, 18 June 2014
On 18 June the Group held a joint seminar with the UK Constitutional Law Association. Read Craig Prescott's summary of what was said here.
New paper, March 2014
Alexander Horne, a Barrister of Lincoln's Inn and the Legal and Senior Policy Adviser at the House of Commons Scrutiny Unit, has written a new SPG paper (No. 3 in our series), entitled "Is there a case for greater legislative involvement in the judicial appointments process?". Read it here. All SPG papers.
Annual Conference, 3-5 January 2014
The Group held its annual conference at Worcester College,
Oxford. Topics discussed included the Banking Commission, Parliamentary standards
and Parliamentary buildings.
Launch of Parliament and the Law
Dawn Oliver, Alexander Horne (both pictured left) and Gavin Drewry
launched Parliament and the Law on 23 October
at University College London. Sir Ross Cranston FBA (middle picture),
who wrote the foreword to the book, gave a speech.
New Book: Parliament and the Law, September 2013
The Study of Parliament Group has published a new book of essays on the subject of Parliament and the Law. Edited by Alexander Horne, Gavin Drewry and Dawn Oliver, the book provides a wide-ranging overview of the ways in which the law applies to Parliament, and considers how recent changes to our constitutional arrangements have impacted on Parliament as an institution. For more details, please see the publisher's website.
Seminar, 23 July 2013
Dr Louise Thompson, of the Centre for Legislative Studies, University of Hull, addressed a joint seminar of the SPG and the Centre for Legislative Studies on "Debunking the Myths: The Scrutiny of Legislation in Public Bill Committees". Dr Thompson has an article on this topic in Parliamentary Affairs, Vol 66 Issue 3 (July 2013).
Seminar, 1 July 2013
Graham Brady MP, Chairman of the 1922 Committee, addressed a Seminar on Party Organisation in Parliament.
Summer Dinner, 13 June 2013
Richard Bacon MP addressed the group at its Summer Dinner, held this
year at King's College, London.
Annual Conference, 4-6 January 2013
The Group held its annual conference at Worcester College, Oxford, and discussed a number of topics including petitions, improving legislation and Parliamentary standards. See here and here for a couple of blogs about what took place.
Summer Dinner, 28 June 2012
The Rt Hon George Young Bt MP, Leader of the House of
Commons, addressed the group before its Summer Dinner, held this
year at King's College, London.
Annual Conference, 6-8 January 2012
The Group held its annual conference at Worcester College,
Oxford. Topics discussed included the relation of Parliament with
the judiciary, public engagement and reform of the House of
Lords.
Joint meeting with Constitutional Law Group, 12 October
2011
At a meeting at the House of Commons, Anthony Bradley,
David Howarth and Nigel Pleming QC spoke about Parliamentary
privilege. Read a summary.
New book: Parliamentary Socialisation
This book, by
Michael Rush and Philip Giddings, arises out of the work of the
New Members Study Group, which has examined the way in which new
MPs (from the 1992 intake onwards) learn and develop their role
at the House of Commons and in their constituencies.
Palgrave Macmillan, July 2011, £57.50, ISBN 978 0 230
28489 0
Group summer dinner, 6 June
Lord
Phillips of Worth Matravers, President of the Supreme Court,
addressed the Group about the work and development of the court,
in a speech delivered in the Speaker's State Apartments (by kind
permission of Mr Speaker).
Last updated: 10 December 2020.