Remembrancer

The Remembrancer is a senior officer of the City of London Corporation, the local authority of the Square Mile. The holder acts as the Corporation's parliamentary agent, follows bills and government proposals that could affect the City, and also serves as its chief of protocol, organising state banquets, royal visits and other ceremonial occasions at Guildhall.

The office dates from 1571 and is unique to the City. It should not be confused with the King's Remembrancer, a much older judicial post in the courts of England and Wales whose holder presides over the Trial of the Pyx, the annual check that the Royal Mint's coins, which are legal tender, meet their required weight and metal content. The City Remembrancer is a paid official appointed by the Corporation, not an elected politician and not a member of either House of Parliament.

Think of a long-serving family solicitor who keeps an eye on any new rule that might touch the family's home or business, writes polite letters when something looks harmful, and also plans the big family weddings. The Remembrancer does both jobs for the City of London: watching the law-making process in Parliament and running the formal events that the City hosts for kings, queens and foreign leaders.

The name comes from the old idea of a person whose duty was to "remember" or remind others of matters that needed attention. In the City's case, that meant reminding Parliament and the Crown of the City's ancient rights and interests whenever new laws were proposed.

The post was created in 1571, during the reign of Elizabeth I, to give the City a dedicated officer for its charters, privileges and business with the Crown. Early holders looked after these records and represented the City's interests at court and in Parliament. As Parliament became the centre of law-making, the job shifted towards following legislation and presenting the City's view to ministers and committees.

Over four and a half centuries the office has adapted to modern government. Today the Remembrancer's Department supports the Corporation on public bills, consultations and select committee inquiries that touch on the City's services and on financial and professional services more broadly, a sector that has grown steadily since the Big Bang (1986) reforms.

The Corporation describes the Remembrancer as one of its Law Officers, its Chief of Protocol and its Parliamentary Agent. In practice the work falls into three areas.

• Parliamentary work. The department monitors bills and draft laws, briefs members of both Houses on how proposals would affect the City, and can promote or petition against private bills, the special kind of legislation that changes the powers of a named body such as the Corporation itself.
• Ceremonial and protocol. The Remembrancer organises the City's great occasions, including state banquets at Guildhall for visiting heads of state and the formal events of the Lord Mayor's year.
• Advice to the Corporation. The office advises members on constitutional matters, privileges and the City's relations with the Crown and Parliament.

Much of this work concerns ordinary local matters such as transport, planning and policing, but some of it touches the rules applied to banks, insurers such as Lloyd's of London and other firms overseen by a financial regulator, chiefly the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).

The Remembrancer is entered on the roll of parliamentary agents kept for private bill work, which gives a right to appear before committees on such bills. The holder may also watch proceedings from the under-gallery of the House of Commons, opposite the Speaker's chair, an area set aside for officials and agents. This seat is often described in the press as giving the City a special presence in the chamber.

The House of Commons authorities have stated that the Remembrancer has no access to the floor of the House and cannot speak in or take part in debates. Popular claims that the Remembrancer sits behind the Speaker or can alter laws are not supported by the official record.

Campaigners for financial reform, some Members of Parliament and writers on offshore financial centres have argued that the office gives the finance industry an unusually privileged channel into law-making, and that the Corporation's lobbying should be more transparent. Some critics link it to wider concerns about regulatory arbitrage and the influence of the City on financial regulatory frameworks.

The Corporation's answer is that the Remembrancer does what parliamentary agents and public affairs teams do for many large bodies, that it acts openly through recognised procedures, and that much of its work is about local services rather than finance. It also points out that the office's role in promoting the City as an international financial centre is matched by similar activity in other financial hubs. Debate over the office tends to resurface whenever financial services lobbying is in the news.

• City of London Corporation
• UK Parliament