Prime Minister’s Questions: Westminster’s weekly gladiatorial combat

Every Wednesday at noon, the House of Commons chamber comes alive with Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), the loudest, most theatrical half-hour in British politics. To some it’s democratic accountability; to others, a raucous playground of yah-boo antics. Loved and loathed in equal measure, PMQs is Parliament’s weekly shop window, offering a revealing glimpse of how Britain does politics. In this episode, we explore its history, purpose, and international impact, including why France briefly trialled it last year only to drop the idea.

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Each week, Prime Minister’s Questions turns Westminster into a spectacle of jeers, cheers, and gladiatorial verbal combat. Is it serious accountability, or just political theatre?

Joining us this week is Dr Ruxandra Serban, Lecturer in Comparative Politics at UCL, whose research compares PMQs with questioning sessions around the world.

Together, we explore:

• why it matters that the Prime Minister faces MPs each week;
• how PMQs evolved from dry “engagements questions” into today’s noisy clash;
• what the public really thinks of when they watch MPs jeering, cheering and point-scoring; and
• whether PMQs could ever change, or if the ritual is too entrenched.

Dr Serban also explains how other countries view Westminster’s weekly spectacle – sometimes as a model of democratic accountability, sometimes as a cautionary tale. She compares PMQs with similar sessions in Canada, Australia, and Ireland, and reflects on why France’s National Assembly briefly adopted its own PMQs-style experiment in 2024, before quietly abandoning it months later.

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Parliament Matters is a Hansard Society production supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

 

Presenters: Mark D’Arcy and Ruth Fox

Producer: Richard Townsend

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