The parliamentary snuff box is a wooden snuff box at the door of the

House of Commons of the United Kingdom The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 memb ...

where snuff is stored for use by Members of Parliament. It originated after 1694 when smoking was banned in the House of Commons. It is the responsibility of the Principal Doorkeeper to ensure it is kept stocked.

History

In 1694, the

Parliament of England The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the Great Council of England, great council of Lords Spi ...

passed a resolution banning smoking in the House of Commons chamber and in committee rooms. Following this, members still wished to take tobacco so snuff was used as a tolerated alternative to smoking as attributed to '' Erskine May: Parliamentary Practice''. In 1941, the House of Commons chamber was destroyed by a German bomb on the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative ch ...

. The current parliamentary snuff box was created using timber from the destroyed chamber's door frame with a silver plate listing all the names of the Principal Doorkeepers since 1943 screwed onto the lid. The responsibility for maintaining the parliamentary snuff box lies with the Principal Doorkeeper who stocks the box with snuff paid for with his own money.

Attention

Until the 2010s, the rights of MPs to have free snuff was a little known tradition of the House of Commons. A Freedom of Information request in 2010 confirmed the existence of the tradition and that it was filled with snuff chosen by the Principal Doorkeeper which he selected from a local tobacconist. The request did not reveal which members took advantage of the free snuff privilege, as the last recorded instance of an MP taking snuff was in 1989, when was taken at a cost of 99p. In 2012, the parliamentary snuff box was mentioned in a debate by the Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion,

Caroline Lucas Caroline Patricia Lucas (born 9 December 1960) is a British politician who was the leader of the Green Party of England and Wales from 2003 to 2006, 2007 to 2012, and 2016 to 2018. She was Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parli ...

, who criticised the parliamentary snuff box for being outdated. The Conservative Party MP for Gillingham and Rainham, Rehman Chishti, also wrote a question about how much had been used in the previous decade. The response was that there were no known users of the parliamentary snuff box. It was also noted that while under the Health Act 2006 it is illegal to give out free tobacco in the United Kingdom, Parliament is exempt from this as the Palace of Westminster is a royal palace, and therefore legally exempt from the legislation.

References

{{Reflist, 30em House of Commons of the United Kingdom Tobacco in the United Kingdom British traditions

History

Attention

See also

References