MPs devise scheme to hold Lord Cameron to account

A cross-party group of MPs is set to propose an obscure parliamentary mechanism as way for MPs to scrutinise Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron.

As first reported by the New Statesman, the Procedure Committee will suggest Lord Cameron take MPs' questions from the "Bar of the House" in the Commons.

The "Bar" is a white line that marks a boundary beyond which guests may not pass when MPs are at work.

BBC News has been told MPs will make the recommendation in the coming days.

However, it would be up to the government whether or not to allow time for their proposal to be debated and voted on, and Downing Street appeared to pour cold water on the idea.

A spokesperson for the prime minister stressed that Lord Cameron appeared regularly before parliamentary committees and the Lords, and that Foreign Office minister, Sir Andrew Mitchell, answered questions on his behalf in the Commons.

Any recommendations "would be looked at in the usual way," they said, "But we're confident that we have the right arrangements in place to ensure that government is held to account and scrutinised."

As a member of the House of Lords, Lord Cameron cannot address MPs in the House of Commons.

Last November, after he was appointed foreign secretary, Commons Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, wrote to the chair of the Procedure Committee, Conservative MP, Dame Karen Bradley.

He asked her to undertake a short inquiry, and to consider whether the Bar of the House might be a "model that could be adapted for the current circumstances".

Sir Lindsay also said that allowing cabinet ministers who aren't MPs to take questions in Westminster Hall, a small debating chamber in Parliament, wouldn't amount to the kind of "timely, searching and effective scrutiny" that constituents would expect.

It is understood the committee explored a range of options, including using Westminster Hall, but alighted on the "Bar" idea instead.

A committee spokesperson said: "The Procedure Committee has undertaken an inquiry into how members of the House of Commons can scrutinise Secretaries of States in the Lords. The committee will report back with its proposals shortly."

While all government departments have ministers in the House of Lords, cabinet minister jobs - such as foreign secretary - are normally given to MPs.

Lord Cameron is the first foreign secretary to sit in the House of Lords since Lord Carrington in 1979.