The Duck House The Duck House The Duck House is a 2013 comedy farce play written by Dan Patterson and Colin Swash. It is based around the events of the 2009 UK parliamentary expenses scandal, and made its world premiere at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in October 2013, at the start of a five-week UK tour. The production then transferred to the West End's Vaudeville Theatre, where it ran until 29 March 2014. The play is set in May 2009, one year before the General Election, Gordon Brown's Labour government is unpopular. Robert Houston is a Labour backbencher seeking to defect to the
Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service [1984] UKHL 9, or the "GCHQ case", is a UK constitutional law and UK labour law case that held the Royal Prerogative was subject to judicial review. In 1984, the government of Margaret Thatcher banned employees of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) from joining any trade union for "national security" reasons by an Order in Council using the Royal Prerogative. The Council of Civil Service Unions claimed in judicial review that defeated their legitimate expectations, to collectively bargain