Mr Speaker
Keith Biles (centre right), with Speaker of the House Sir Lindsay Hoyles (centre left) and the Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly
By ASH Smyth
April 2023
As the Speaker of the Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly jets off to be a speaker at the Speakers' conference in the Caribbean, ASH Smyth speaks to the Speaker about Speakership. And speaking.
Proceeding right now, in The Valley, Anguilla, is the 2nd UK Overseas Territories Speakers' Conference, featuring a special sitting of the (slightly Game of Thrones) House of Assembly at 9am this morning, their time.
The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Deepening Parliamentary Democracy in the British Overseas Territories’, not all of which have always enjoyed all ‘the fundamental elements of strong democratic legislatures’. In its second iteration, the conference is all about ensuring ‘vibrant’ and ‘effective’ governance in the OTs through ‘well-structured and resourced’ parliamentary bodies.
Over a three-day meeting, sessions will cover such themes as separation of powers, the OTs constitutional relationships to Westminster, budgetary management, and the security of the physical parliamentary estate. The list of speakers—or indeed Speakers—includes those from Anguilla (Hon. Barbara Webster-Bourne hosting), Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Saint Helena, and Turks and Caicos, as well as the Rt Hon. Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP, Speaker of the House of Commons.
So says this press release, at any rate. I only know about it cos the Speaker from the Falklands is there.
I first met Keith Biles on the evening of the last Falkland Islands general election: November 4th, 2021. As the radio newsroom’s rawest recruit, I’d only narrowly escaped being in sole charge of the station’s election night coverage (the then news editor having decided to stand, at the eleventh hour, for the Stanley constituency), but now was somewhat surplus to requirements, with a good few hours to kill, and in a largely empty hall, to boot.
“I don’t recall at what point I realised that he was the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly; and if I asked him anything at all about the election, I do not remember what.”
I plonked myself down beside a short-ish, grey-bearded gentlemen, in a well-worn Barbour-type jacket. I don’t recall at what point I realised that he was the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly; and if I asked him anything at all about the election, I do not remember what. But, as the stately process of counting even just a couple of thousand votes got under way (the Chief Executive, fresh from running Leicester City Council, said it was the “most orderly and genteel” election he had ever been involved in), we found ourselves chatting about South Africa, Sri Lanka, and other places that the two of us had lived and worked in.
It may have been suggested to me that Keith didn’t suffer fools – but his vaguely ‘Afrikaner oom’ appearance was quickly belied by a twinkly sense of humour. He starts a good many sentences with a thoughtful “Mmmmmm yes/no...”, but also refers chucklingly to his once-a-week Full English at the diner as “an indulgence.”
The well-travelled ex-banker arrived here in 1995, to be the CEO of Standard Chartered Bank (famously set up as a favour to Dennis Thatcher and, to date, the only bank in the Falkland). He retired seven years later. Only the third Speaker of the Islands’ Legislative Assembly, he was first elected in 2009, and is now in his fourth (and possibly final?) four-year term.
“Still enjoying it, I assume?”
“Oh, yes, I wouldn’t be doing it otherwise.”
He says modestly that he just happened to be in the right place at the right time, but that he had had a long-standing interest in the law (he’s also a JP, though he no longer sits), and the way that government works. This may have something to do with having dwelt in various places where government didn’t, actually.
“I’ve lived in a lot of different countries, under different regimes of one sort or another. My first job overseas was in the Philippines, in the time of martial law under Marcos…” He later went to Hong Kong, where the chief manager of the bank he worked for was an automatically-appointed member of the legislature.
The Speakership is recognised within the Constitution of the Falklands, and more closely defined in the Standing Orders of the House. His primary role is to preside over the meetings of the Legislative Assembly, managing the short(ish) passage of the bills; but he is also there to receive and adjudicate complaints regarding Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs), and to investigate any allegations of failures to declare interests, or other breaches of their Code of Conduct.
“He refers chucklingly to his once-a-week Full English at the diner as “an indulgence.””
Unlike in Westminster, the Speaker is not an elected member of the Assembly, but does have to be constitutionally electable to that position: i.e. they have to be a ‘status’-holder in the Falkland Islands. They are then elected by (and only by) the eight MLAs, but have no vote in the Assembly, not even in a tie-breaking capacity.
I ask if a personal rapport with the elected members is a crucial part of the job. Maybe there are other ways of going about it?
“I would think it’s essential. You shouldn’t really need to express your authority very often. I mean, the gavel’s there, but I would regard using it as… unusual.”
In a legislature with no opposition parties—no political parties at all—the assemblies (broadcast live to the nation, by my colleagues on Falklands Radio) are not, it must be said, renowned for their high drama.
When I ask if it’s essential for the Speaker to be a village (now ‘city’!) elder, or if the younger generation might realistically have a shot at it, Keith jokes that grey beards are issued with the gavel, and that anyway a younger person would want to be familiar, inside and out, with Erskine May – “especially if you can’t sleep at night.”
“But I usually say to new MLAs, ‘Don’t worry: if it goes wrong it’s my fault, not yours!’”
“What’s the most challenging part of the job?”
“One of the most, perhaps, frustrating aspects of the job is that you’re actually muzzled [he reads me the relevant sub-paragraph] in so far as being an outspoken critic of anything the government does.”
“And what’s the strangest thing that’s happened in your 13 years?”
“It was one member who had a bet with another member to try and get a word in his speech for the adjournment. Not an unusual occurrence in public speaking, of course – but in this case the word was either ‘giraffe’ or ‘rhinoceros’…”
“… both a bit of a give-away in the context of South Atlantic politics?”
“Well, yes. And the member concerned did actually manage it before I twigged – but the bet wasn’t contingent on getting away with it.”
“I mean, the gavel’s there, but I would regard using it as… unusual.”
Most of the real political wrangling is done in advance, he acknowledges, “which means that Assemblies can come across as rather stilted and rubber-stamping—but that’s not necessarily the case.” He mentions at least two recent bits of legislation—a Crimes bill, and Maritime ordinances —which were contentious enough to need processing, clause by clause, through respective select committees.
“So you’re not dealing with too many floor fights?”
“Oh, no, no! In terms of the conduct of business in the house, with us it’s extremely gentlemanly.” He’s never even stood up, let alone summoned Black Rod—which is as well, since we don’t have one. There is provision for an MLA to be suspended, and to have their pay docked—but Keith doesn’t look like this is something that would trouble him, in any given assembly.
The Speakership is a more-or-less unpaid position, and doesn’t even come with office space at Gilbert House, the Falklands’ legislative HQ (the monthly Assemblies more often taking place in public venues like the court room in the Town Hall). He claims a session fee for half a day every four weeks (something in the region of £700 for last calendar year), and works from home, either in Stanley or at the smallholding he and his wife Kathy own on the North coast of East Falkland.
But he sits on the select committee for the review of the Constitution, as deputy chair; and among other things has made himself responsible for the official record, transcribed verbatim from the audio recording of the Assembly (yes, we make that): “So I sit through the whole Assembly again, checking it against the written record.” In all, he reckons parliamentary business takes up about a week a month.
In his spare time, Keith is on the council of Christ Church Cathedral (where Kathy is a priest), is treasurer of Falkland Islands Conservation, chairs the board of Trustees of the Lighthouse Seafarer’s Mission, and no doubt more that I am unaware of.
He does have a deputy. She stood—or sat?—in for him only last week, in a slightly unusual Legislative Assembly, in Hill Cove, West Falkland.
“The Speaker or the Deputy Speaker, or a fill-in, has to be in the chair. So if you’ve got a long meeting, toilet breaks do not happen!” (On one occasion both the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker were away, so, per the Constitution, the Assembly was presided over by the first female acting Speaker, an MLA – with a vote.)
Now I think about it, Keith wasn’t technically the Speaker when we met, the Assembly being in a state of dissolution (not to say ‘in a dissolute state’). I actually attended his election, on the morning of November 5th, which was also ‘not contentious’, there being but one candidate each for Speaker and for Deputy. In fact, the only noteworthy thing about the entire meeting was that, for the first five minutes or so, the Speaker was in fact the Attorney General.
The Falklands Legislative Assembly is a smidgen younger than the Palace of Westminster, so for one thing several Speakers haven’t had their heads lopped off.
“Yes, in Westminster, for historical reasons, the Speaker is dragged to his chair – which we don’t do here, I’m very pleased to say!”
“The Falklands Legislative Assembly is a smidgen younger than the Palace of Westminster, so for one thing several Speakers haven’t had their heads lopped off.”
But that’s not to say the Falklands’ gig lacks ceremony. Other duties include reading the Commonwealth Affirmation on Victory Green on March 14th (under Schedule 6, the Speaker ‘shall be the President of the local branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association’), and —very prominently, as happened last June— relieving the outgoing Governor of his (Wilkinson) sword of office at his last parade, and then handing it over to the incoming Governor at her swearing-in.
On one occasion, Keith says, a gimlet-eyed officer of the law wondered aloud at the legality of the Speaker’s ambling around in the vicinity of the primary school and bank with an offensive weapon. My thoughts turned more towards whether this caretaking capacity might not put him in the role of acting executive, à la Gerald Ford. What if he didn’t give it back? (Boringly, said sword is housed, during the constitutionally-mandated interregnum, in a filing cabinet at the Legislature. How’s that, though, for the separation of powers??) There is also—Keith tells this story with some side-eye—the matter of the time one Governor used the sword to cut some cake…
I raise the subject of (then Prime Minister) Boris Johnson’s famously raucous parliamentary relationship with John Bercow. What did he make of Bercow’s Speakership?
“I thought he was out of order. He pushed it far too far. He did give an emphasis to backbencher involvement in debate, which was OK. But he was fairly partisan in the way that he was calling people to speak. And he was giving his opinion outside the house, which is… not done.”
Is Lindsay Hoyle more to his taste?
“Oh, very much so. I mean, I don’t necessarily agree with his underlying politics—because he was a Labour MP. But his approach to being Speaker is spot on. He’s also extremely pro the Overseas Territories.”
Keith couldn’t attend last year’s inaugural Speakers’ Conference in London, as it clashed with a jam-packed year of Falklands 40th commemorations. But he got his chance to host instead, as Sir Lindsay (along with seemingly half the world’s VIPs) visited the Falklands in mid-May, addressing the Assembly and the people of the Islands at the start of the Budget session, and just managing to get in a few Hank Wangford references before the snow came down and he was whisked away by helicopter.
The weather in Stanley has been quite rank these last few days, as well. But I see that Schedule 6 also requires that the Speaker shall ‘attend meetings and conferences of Speakers of Legislatures in the Commonwealth’—so now he and the others will have a chance to catch up, in rather warmer climes.
I ask Keith if he has a photo of himself in shorts, on some Anguillan beach. Ever the stickler for protocol, he told me no, alas: “they don’t go with the gown!”
