23rd Parliamentary Term

The **23rd Parliamentary Term** took place between April 2016 and October 2016.

#### **April**

Following the 23rd General Election, the Conservative Party formed a coalition Government with the Liberal Party and the National Liberal Party. The Labour Party became the Official Opposition. Following his failure to obtain a Vote of Confidence, RayApparently was removed as Speaker and returned to the Labour Party. SakuraCayla was elected as the new Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.

#### **May**

Unown Uzer replaced Jacob E as the Leader of UKIP and in a shock election, Quamquam123 defeated Saracen’s Fez to become the new Leader of the Labour Party. A Seakership election took place with Tanqueray91, Life\_peer, Airmed, adam9317, Jacob E, Saracen’s Fez, Jammy Duel and Aph all standing. In the second round of voting, Saracen’s Fez was elected the new Speaker, beating Airmed by 22 votes to 19. DanE1998 replaced cranbrook\_aspie as the new Chair of the Labour Party. A shocking revelation arose a week later that Labour member Whiggy was a dupe of a banned member called ‘It's a Shame’, who had received a ban for serious harassment, the second part of a scandal which was dubbed 'Whiggygate'. Birchington resigned as Editor of Ad Hoc after producing 16 editions of the publication.

#### **June**

A Motion of No Confidence was submitted in the Government on the grounds of a poor legislation output, broken promises, infighting, the poor handling of a crisis and their failure to produce a budget. The Government managed to survive by 3 votes. In the middle of April, Quamquam123 announced that he would be stepping down as Leader of the Labour Party and RayApparently was re-elected Leader for the second time. The MHoC Awards took place which saw TheDefiniteArticle win Best Debater, Quamquam123 win Best Newbie, the Divorce Bill win Best Legislation, hazzer1998 win the Comedian Award, Jammy Duel win the Drunkard Award and RayApparently win Mr Congeniality. Jacob E released his own version of Ad Hoc was it was criticised for its inclusion of pornography. TitanCream proposed the creation of an Animal Rights Party but this was not well received. At the end of June, Saracen’s Fez announced that he would be closing down the National Liberal Party. This decision had been expected by many following almost complete inactivity from the party.

#### **July**

Saoirse:3 rejoined the House and the Labour Party following a 6 month ban for duping. JoeL1994 and Joep95 were sacked from the Cabinet for voting against the Trade Union Bill, which caused JoeL1994 to defect from the Liberal Party to the Labour Party. Wellzi and notneb from UKIP also defected to Labour and adam9317 defected to the Conservative Party. Following the loss of Andy98’s seat, a by-election took place. george\_c00per, endorsed by the Labour Party, beat Birchington, adam9317, ABoyHasNoName and Aph to claim the seat, boosting Labour’s seat total to 13. Aph subsequently joined the Socialist Party. hazzer1998 was infamously defeated by the 'reopen nominations' option in UKIP's election for a new Deputy Leader but despite this, he claimed the role just a few days later. Airmed resigned as the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party and she was replaced by thehistorybore. Another Motion of No Confidence was submitted in the Government, by hazzer1998, after they had failed to act on the issues raised in the previous one. However, UKIP played a trick and abandoned the motion. Despite this, TheDefiniteArticle resurrected the MoNC and sent it to Division where the Government survived again, this time by 4 votes. Another by-election took place in which another Labour-endorsed candidate, JoeL1994, was victorious, beating BenC1997 and Jacob E. This boosted Labour’s seat total to 14.

#### **August**

Paracosm was made new Liberal Chair following thehistorybore's switch to the Deputy Leader position. Following a drought of crises, Jacob E submitted an amendment to close down the Crisis Committee. However, it did not obtain the required votes to pass. During the discussion of the amendment, the committee released a controversial crisis in which the Prime Minister could have suffered a ruptured rectum. Galaxie501 proposed the re-creation of a Libertarian Party and TitanCream left the Liberal Party to help with the project. The party was met with a mixed response with some members suggesting it could be another National Liberals-like flop and some believing it would add a new perspective to the game. However, Galaxie left TSR, TitanCream returned to the Liberals and Romanbowling33 joined the Conservative Party, meaning the project never got off the ground. TheDefiniteArticle left the Socialist Party and became a full Labour member. cranbrook\_aspie left the Labour Party to became a full Socialist member and their new Commissar for Internal Affairs. Several months later than expected, the Government released their budget, which was generally greeted with a positive response. In the middle of the month, Snufkin defected to the Labour Party from the Liberal Party. Tensions flared in the Government as Jammy Duel was axed as an MP for voting against the Assisted Death Petition and Rakas21 was axed as an MP following his decision to vote against the Assisted Dying Bill. Life\_peer received bans before and after these changes were made. UKIP MP Trapping was permanently banned from the MHoC from repeatedly revealing personal information of members in a controversy that is known as Trappinggate. At the end of August, Saracen’s Fez finished the new MHoC Guide.

#### **September**

On the first day of September, Quamquam123 released a lengthy issue of Ad Hoc, 11 months after Birchington's last edition. The Government’s Finance Bill failed. Jacob E announced that he was back, having previously been cruising round the world with his trophy girlfriend. Dandaman1 proposed a ‘New Conservatives’ party. However, many people believed that it was not sufficiently different enough from the current Conservative Party. Quamquam123 replaced DanE1998 as the Labour Party's Chair. Lime-man defected to the Green Party.

#### **October**

Kyx replaced Andy98 as Leader of the Green Party. This came as a surprise to many who presumed that either Barnetlad or Lime-man would replace him instead. The Crisis Committee released another crisis which saw the death of Mr Whiskers and the threat of many more ruptured rectums. Jacob E submitted another amendment to close down the Crisis Committee. The Speaker’s decision to allow the amendment to be submitted proved controversial for some. PetrosAC created an amendment to introduce simulated elections and was essentially a proposal to create constituencies. The amendment received a mixed response and it was withdrawn after the second reading. Barnetlad, the Deputy Green Leader, announced that he would be retiring from the MHoC after a career spanning 2 years and 10 months. Tanqueray91 replaced Life\_peer as the new Conservative Party Leader after the latter decided to resign. Another crisis took place in which Argentina threatened to take back the Falkland Islands. At the end of the month, the 24th General Election took place. Jammy Duel left the Conservative Party to stand as an independent and the Green Party forgot to submit a manifesto. Labour topped the final standings, winning 17 seats.

## External Links

* State Opening of the 23rd Parliamentary Term
* Speakership Election Debate Thread
* Speakership Election Round 1 Voting
* Speakership Election Round 2 Voting
* June Motion of No Confidence in the Government Voting
* MHoC Award Winners for the 22nd Parliament
* Animal Rights Party Proposal
* July By-Election (1)
* July By-Election (2)
* July Motion of No Confidence in the Government Voting
* Libertarian Party Proposal
* Ad Hoc September 2016 Edition
* Jacob E's Announcement
* New Conservatives Party Proposal
* 24th General Election Debating and Voting Thread