The Serjeant at Arms of the House of Commons is a parliamentary official responsible for order in the House of Commons. The office dates to 1415 and traditionally included responsibility for security. The role is now mainly ceremonial.
The
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
also had a Serjeant-at-Arms (the title was often distinguished by the use of hyphens), dating also from the 15th century. His duties were merged in 1971 with those of
Black Rod.
Traditionally the post of Serjeant at Arms was filled by a retired military officer, but in 2008 a civil servant,
Jill Pay
Jill Pay (born 10 May 1951) is a retired official of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. She was Serjeant at Arms in the House of Commons. Pay is the first woman to have held the position. Her appointment was unusual in that the position had hi ...
, was selected as the first woman to hold the appointment. At the same time the job was split, with many of the duties transferred to the new post of chief executive.
Ugbana Oyet
Ugbana Oyet (born September 1976) is a Nigerian-born British chartered engineer and the current Serjeant at Arms of the House of Commons (United Kingdom), Serjeant-at-Arms of the House of Commons. Oyet is the first Black Serjeant-at-Arms.
Early ...
holds the post .
Duties
The duties of the Serjeant at Arms are partly ceremonial. The Serjeant at Arms carries the
mace during the opening of Parliament and is also responsible for maintaining order during debates in the House of Commons, escorting members out of the chamber if ordered to do so by the Speaker.
In rare cases, the Serjeant at Arms may be called upon to enforce the warrants of the Speaker in summoning a witness to testify before a select committee of the house. While serving the warrant and encouraging a witness to attend parliament "the Serjeant or his appointee may call on the full assistance of the civil authorities, including the police."
In January 1992, the Serjeant at Arms was employed to summon
Ian
Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name in Sc ...
and
Kevin Maxwell
Kevin Francis Herbert Maxwell (born 1959) is a British businessman. In the 1990s, Maxwell was acquitted of charges relating to financial crimes connected with the business practices of his father, publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell. Formerly disqu ...
, the sons of the disgraced business tycoon
Robert Maxwell
Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, member of parliament (MP), suspected spy, and fraudster.
Early in his life, Maxwell escaped from N ...
, to attend an inquiry held by the Social Security Select Committee into the operation of the
Mirror Group Pension fund.
In November 2018, the Serjeant at Arms was called upon to escort an American businessman, who was staying in London, to the Houses of Parliament because he had documents pertaining to the
Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal
In the 2010s, personal data belonging to millions of Facebook users was collected without their consent by British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, predominantly to be used for political advertising.
The data was collected through an app ca ...
. After being told he could face arrest, fines and imprisonment for failing to comply with a parliamentary order to hand over the documents, the man eventually complied with the request.
Dress
The Serjeant at Arms wears traditional court dress and carries a sword, and is traditionally the only person allowed to be armed (with
sword
A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...
or
mace) inside the chamber of the House of Commons.
List of Serjeants at Arms
See also
*
Serjeant-at-Arms
A serjeant-at-arms, or sergeant-at-arms, is an officer appointed by a deliberative body, usually a legislature, to keep order during its meetings. The word "serjeant" is derived from the Latin ''serviens'', which means "servant". Historically, s ...
External links
Records of the Department of the Serjeant at Arms are kept at the Parliamentary Archives
References
{{Officers of the Lords and Commons
Serjeant-at-Arms