Trinity Masters Speakers: 'Mild or wild – how do you like your Speaker? And what would you like him to do?'

Drinks reception and lecture by Andreas Norlén, MP, LLD speaker of the Swedish Parliament.

• Drinks 6.00 pm
• Lecture 6.30 pm

The UK and Sweden are both parliamentary democracies, but their political and parliamentary systems differ. The British Parliament is famous for its adversarial design and the Speaker’s attempts to create order. In Sweden, the Members of Parliament sit in a huge semi-circle, surrounded by other Members from the same constituency, regardless of party affiliation. Sweden has detailed rules regarding parliamentary procedures. The UK to a large extent relies on precedent and on the Speaker to interpret it. The British Speaker has a lot of power in his Chamber, highlighted during the Brexit process. The Swedish Speaker – not the Sovereign – leads the process of forming a Government after an election and nominates a Prime Ministerial candidate for the Chamber to vote on – a process which took 134 days after the elections in September 2018.

The Speaker of the Swedish Parliament, Andreas Norlén, MP, LLD, will give a lecture on his role in leading the Parliament and in the process of electing a Prime Minister and will make some comparisons with the British system.

He will also address the centennial of the advent of democracy in Sweden, celebrated by Parliament 2018-2022. On December 17 in the dramatic year of 1918, the Swedish Parliament made the principal decision to introduce universal and equal suffrage. The first women entered Parliament in 1922, following the first fully democratic elections in 1921.

For further information see the short film https://www.tv4.se/nyheterna/klipp/mild-eller-vild-hur-vill-du-ha-din-ta...

If you wish to attend please email masters.events@trin.cam.ac.uk by 9.30 am Monday 10 June. If oversubscribed priority will be given to those who book early.