Prime Minister’s Questions

E17903
parliamentary procedure question time

Prime Minister’s Questions is a weekly session in the UK House of Commons where the Prime Minister answers questions from Members of Parliament, including the Leader of the Opposition.

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Observed surface forms (3)

Surface form Occurrences
PMQs 1
Prime Minister's Questions 1
Prime Minister’s Question Time (twice weekly sessions) 1

Statements (47)

Predicate Object
instanceOf parliamentary procedure ⓘ
question time ⓘ
associatedWith British political culture ⓘ
Westminster system of government ⓘ
broadcastBy BBC television services ⓘ
surface form: BBC Parliament

BBC Radio 5 Live ⓘ
Parliamentary Broadcasting Unit (Parliamentlive.tv) ⓘ
surface form: Parliamentlive.tv

Sky News ⓘ
chamber House of Commons chamber ⓘ
characteristic highly adversarial tone ⓘ
often noisy and confrontational ⓘ
significant media attention ⓘ
country United Kingdom ⓘ
dayOfWeek Wednesday ⓘ
frequency weekly ⓘ
governingBody British Parliament ⓘ
surface form: Parliament of the United Kingdom
hasFormat oral questions ⓘ
questions without notice ⓘ
supplementary questions ⓘ
historicalPrecursor Prime Minister’s Questions self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form: Prime Minister’s Question Time (twice weekly sessions)
introducedBy New Labour ⓘ
surface form: Tony Blair government
language English ⓘ
legalFramework Standing Orders of the House of Commons ⓘ
legislativeBody House of Commons of the United Kingdom ⓘ
location Palace of Westminster ⓘ
mainParticipantRole Leader of the Opposition ⓘ
Prime Minister ⓘ
surface form: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
notableFor set-piece exchanges between Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition ⓘ
openTo all Members of Parliament ⓘ
participantRole Members of Parliament ⓘ
Speaker of the House of Commons ⓘ
precededBy Prime Minister’s Question Time on Tuesdays and Thursdays ⓘ
purpose to hold the Prime Minister to account ⓘ
to scrutinise government policy ⓘ
questionAllocation questions from backbench MPs ⓘ
questions from leaders of smaller opposition parties ⓘ
questions from the Leader of the Opposition ⓘ
regulatedBy Speaker’s rulings ⓘ
shortName Prime Minister’s Questions self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form: PMQs
significantChange moved to a single weekly session in 1997 ⓘ
subjectOf live television broadcasts ⓘ
radio broadcasts ⓘ
timeZone UK time ⓘ
topic current political issues ⓘ
government policy ⓘ
public administration ⓘ
typicalStartTime 12:00 ⓘ

Referenced by (6)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Hansard → coverage → Prime Minister’s Questions ⓘ
Prime Minister’s Questions → historicalPrecursor → Prime Minister’s Questions self-linksurface differs ⓘ
this entity surface form: Prime Minister’s Question Time (twice weekly sessions)
Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom → participatesIn → Prime Minister’s Questions ⓘ
subject surface form: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
this entity surface form: Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister’s Questions → shortName → Prime Minister’s Questions self-linksurface differs ⓘ
this entity surface form: PMQs
House of Commons chamber → usedFor → Prime Minister’s Questions ⓘ