A day in Parliament

What an interesting day. I had a coach trip to Westminster with the Gloucester Conservatives today which included a guided tour of the Houses of Parliament, both Commons and Lords.
The great hall of Westminster where trials of such people as Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot traitors, Charles the 1st, and the 7 bishops. Used for many of the older monarchs coronation banquests and lying in state of monarchs and two Prime Ministers, Churchill and Gladstone. Plus a plaque saying that the bodies of the victims from the R101 Airship crash were laid.
The main lobby, which is where anyone can go to the desk and demand to see their MP i.e. 'Lobbying your MP'. This could be an individual or a crowd of people.
The the other halls, most themed with one being of battles such as Trafalgar and Waterloo.
The Robing Room, where the queen is robed ready for the state opening of Parliament when she reads out the governments intentions for the next year, the Queens Speech.
We also had an hour with our MP, Richard Graham, in one of the meeting rooms used for sub committee and investigation meetings. A good session where he explained some of the Parliamentary processes and procedures and took questions from us.

The whole place is steeped in history and tradition, it was a fabulous day and quite an education, even spent some time in the public gallery watching our politicians during question time.

The picture was a sneaky one. When we came down from our session with Richard the stairway was closed off for the 'Entrance of the Speaker'. 
As I was at the back I couldn't see what was happening so I used the camera on my phone to see over the crowd. As the Speaker, Mr Bercow, came along, proceeded by the man carrying the mace and another in front making the announcements, I 'accidentally' pressed the shutter button. I say accidentally because it is an area where photography is not allowed so I was very sorry about it of course.

I took loads of photos but I thought the illegal one was more worthy of blipping!