GREAT BRITAIN: Oblong for Democracy

Logic, the Prime Minister said, had proved fatal to parliamentary government. Logic, Churchill added without a smile, created the semicircular assemblies “which give every member not only a seat to sit in but often a desk with a lid to bang. . . and enable every individual or group to move around the center adopting various shades of pink according to how the weather changes.” In an oblong chamber, where those who support the government face those who oppose it, “crossing the floor requires serious consideration.”

Honorable members laughed and cheered. Winnie was in top form, and his subject was absorbing: a new house for the House of Commons, to replace the one lost by bombs May 10, 1941; one with bigger galleries for press and public, better ventilation, modern lavatories. But not another shape or a bigger floor. The century-old, oblong (75 ft. by 45 ft.) hall with its high ceiling, oak paneling and green, leather-covered facing benches accommodated 476 of the 615 members, and in the Prime Minister’s view that was just right.

“If the House is big enough to contain all its members, nine-tenths of its debates will be conducted in the depressing atmosphere of an almost empty or half-empty chamber. The essence of good House of Commons speaking is a conversational style. . . . There should be on great occasions a sense of crowd and urgency.”

Churchill glanced around the gilded, be-statued House of Lords, with its bright red leather benches for 742 peers, where the House of Commons now sits.* The Prime Minister, an M.P. for 41 of the last 43 years, concluded thoughtfully: ‘Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam; be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.

* After the 1941 bombing, their Lordships graciously took the Woolsack, adjourned to the King’s Robing Room.