The slot at the end of The Westminster Hour on Sunday evenings (repeated Wednesdays) is rarely dull and often quite informative. The last two maintained the consistency — the first, ‘The Gentleman Usher’, had an interview with a former Black Rod, Sir Edward Jones, explaining the nature of his work; and last Sunday’s, ‘The Lloyd George Papers’, presented by Trevor Fishlock, took a two-part look at the letters of Lloyd George. The office of Black Rod, by its traditional nature, seems to irritate many people, particularly those who hate the past or who are ignorant or unappreciative of history.
Jones, a retired army officer, as most office holders appear to have been, described how Malcolm Rifkind, when defence secretary, warned him about Dennis Skinner’s heckling at the state opening of Parliament. He found his first such occasion nerve-wracking, as there are no instructions on how to do the job, it’s simply been passed down from generation to generation.
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