We just spotted the following Westminster Hall debate on the Inter-Parliamentary Union and a mention of Guatemala:
Christine Russell (PPS (Rt Hon Beverley Hughes, Minister of State), Department for Children, Schools and Families, Chester, City of, Labour) Link to this | Hansard source
My hon. Friend the Member for Islington, North (Jeremy Corbyn)
Jeremy Corbyn MP describes the origin of the IPU (early in the same debate) as: "When the IPU was founded in the period of the 19th century when the idea of holding unaccountable executives to account was fairly new. The idea of a strong Parliament did not really develop anywhere in the world until well into the 19th century, and one must say that those who founded the IPU were visionaries in many ways. It was initially small, because most of the world was made up of colonies of European nations. It started in European nations and has been an important element in promoting democracy and accountable government in Europe. It has been a huge influence in the anti-colonial movement around the world and in a whole lot of things that were spawned from that. We would do well to record our thanks for what the people involved did."

Mike Hancock
Gareth Thomas
Meg Munn





