IT IS FOUR hundred years since the traitor Guy Fawkes was discovered in a sub-let storage room underneath the House of Lords with 36 barrels of gunpowder.

In more security-conscious times the responsibility for protecting Parliament now falls to the Met’s SO17 Palace of Westminster Command which liaises closely with the Palace of Westminster authorities.

SO17 has 168 police officers, 297 security officers, 22 fire officers and 12 staff members who are charged with keeping the 12 buildings of the parliamentary estate secure.

Thousands of pass holders and up to 2,800 contractors who also regularly have to enter the parliamentary estate – which includes the Palace of Westminster, Portcullis House and the two Norman Shaw buildings next to Territorial Policing headquarters in Victoria Embankment.

Checklist

Daily responsibilities include thorough security searches of the Palace of Westminster, searching all visitors, inspecting fire alarms and checking every office at the end of the day.

SO17’s Insp Bob Norris said: “After Parliament closes our officers go round all the offices and make sure they are secure. And then they get to open them all again in the morning. This also helps guard against fires in the estate.

“There are 646 Members of Parliament who have their own offices and 750 peers – 700 of them with their own offices and staff. They are spread across the whole estate.”

There are an average 800 visitors daily and last summer 3,200 people a day went through the Palace doors on guided tours while Parliament was in recess. Each visitor has to be security checked before they can enter the building.

Out-of-bounds

Each room in the public areas and major doorways are guarded by security officers who have to make sure members of the public do not stray into out-of-bounds areas and to stop them from taking a seat on the famous benches in the Houses of Lords and Commons, as traditionally only members are allowed to.

Each vehicle which enters the grounds is routinely checked and there is also armed back-up supplied by the Diplomatic Protection Group (SO16).

Officers also constantly monitor the estate’s CCTV cameras and while Parliament is in session there are constant patrols along Westminster and Lambeth bridges and the Thames’ southbank area.

Additionally, there are plain clothes officers who investigate day-to-day crimes in Westminster.

PC Gary Baker, of SO17, said: “We deal with all the crime around the estate. There are 5,000 people who work on the estate, so it is like a small community with the usual problems like theft and criminal damage.”

The plain clothes officers also investigate malicious phone calls and letters – which often get sent to MPs, particularly after votes on controversial issues. Workers on the estate have a phoneline to report suspicious packages which are carefully inspected and x-rayed by Met officers and dealt with appropriately. PC Tony Hays, from SO17’s search team, said the main public route through the Palace has to be thoroughly searched on a daily basis.

Regular sweeps

The two chambers and committee rooms – including the public galleries – are also searched before use, and search dogs are regularly used.

When Parliament is in recess, the team continue their usual duties but also pay extra attention to areas where contractors have been working to make sure they have been left safe and secure.

Officers also monitor hundreds of fire alarms across the parliamentary estate and messages are sent, via computer-aided dispatch, instructing to check for potential fires. In most cases the problem can be resolved without calling the fire brigade.

History defines today’s
Palace of Westminster

IT IS the international terrorist threat which today causes concern to SO17 officers rather than a domestic attack like the one foiled 400 years ago The Gunpowder Plot was devised by a group of English Catholics who wanted to assassinate King James I.

At that time, Catholics were persecuted and were often suspected of plotting and treason and were fined because of their faith.

Insp Bob Norris said the gunpowder plot conspirators had a specific target, which is why they filled a cellar under the House of Lords with 36 barrels of gunpowder on November 5 1605. The fuse was to have been lit by Guy Fawkes, who planned to flee to Europe afterwards.

But one of the plotters wrote to a senior politician a few weeks before the attack, warning him to postpone the opening of Parliament. On the night of November 4 a thorough search of the Palace took place. Guy Fawkes was found in the cellar, arrested and subesquently became infamous in British history.

Insp Norris said: “Fawkes had certain people he wanted to kill and not just anyone. Modern international terrorists just want to cause mass destruction.

“We are the top target in the country and it does make life difficult. We are trying to keep the Palace free from terrorism, but get as many people in as we can without creating a risk.”

These days the autumn State Opening of Parliament is one of the most important dates in the parliamentary calendar, when the Queen announces her Government’s plans for the next year’s legislative programme. For SO17 it means much detailed preparation to be certain the building is secure.

All the cellars under the modern House of Lords are searched and officers are positioned above, below and outside the chamber on the day.

The route taken by the Queen is thoroughly searched by officers and sniffer dogs.

Defiance

Traditionally a police inspector always accompanies Black Rod, the Queen’s representative in Parliament, to collect MPs from the House of Commons. His is the famous walk from the Lords to the Commons where its doors are slammed in Black Rod’s face as a symbol of defiance of the Monarch to underline MPs’ independence from the Crown.

Insp Bob Norris said the security inside the Houses of Parliament on the day of the State Opening is managed entirely by SO17.

He said: “We change our plans for it every year, to stop people getting complacent. It is an unbelievably large event and it only lasts for half an hour – the Queen is probably only in the building for 25 minutes.

“It is a very long day for everyone involved.”