Parliament began in the 12th century. The name has a French root, from the word parler, to talk.  It came into being as a talking shop, a place where the king came to get advice from his nobles.  He had all the power, but this allowed him to at least listen to their views.  Different monarchs tended to listen more or less to their nobles depending on their personality and their power.  Weak kings had to listen more , culminating in 1215 when King John being ‘brought to heel’ by the nobles and the signing of Magna Carta. 

The next major step was the civil war in 1642, when Cromwell seized power from the king.  Gradually over the next 250 years power shifted from the lords to the commons, and the franchise was extended to included all adults.  So the institution has gradually changed over nine centuries, sometimes in baby steps, sometimes radically.

We are now, perhaps, on the brink of some significant changes in the wake of the MP’s expense scandal.  David Cameron was talking at the weekend about some significant ideas for changing how his party worked.

We can see here both models of change, the radical and the incremental.  There are times when one approach is better than the other.  There are people who prefer one to the other.  I’d be interested to hear your stories about these two different ways of making change happen.