Division bell

[1] A division bell may also be used to signal the start or end of parliamentary proceedings, and often produces different sounds or coloured lights to identify the chamber affected.

[8] Some Members may be in nearby offices, restaurants, pubs or shops, and therefore some of these establishments have their own division bells connected to those in the Houses of Parliament.

Any member who has failed to enter the lobby in time has lost the opportunity to vote in that division.

The programme's expert, Paul Atterbury, with the help of former House of Commons Speaker Baroness Betty Boothroyd, demonstrated the apparatus in use with one of the original Division Bells.

[citation needed] There are 172 division bells located outside the Palace of Westminster, in nearby government offices and even MP's private residences.

[13][14] On one occasion, a young Paul Keating was furiously censured by his party’s whip for missing a division.

Keating made the excuse that he could not hear the division bell in his office, when in fact he had simply turned it down.

Bells are spread throughout the legislative building and rung for either 5, 10, or 30 minutes, depending on the nature of the vote.