Had a visit to the house of Lords yesterday, and was guided by Lord Anthony St John of Bletso. Fascinating! Wonderful architecture and history.
Did you know that…”Toe the line”, came from parliament, and was the term that required members who had transgressed the rules, had to put their toe on the line and apologise to parliament.
Similar expressions like “In the bag” and “Stabbed in back”, meaning that if you got your petition into the bag behind the chancellor, then there was a good chance that it would go through, and the last reference was where a member stabbed another in the back with his sword (yes they wore swords in those days). Nowadays there is a line between opposing parties that is exactly 2 sword lengths apart.
