What does the mace in the House of Commons symbolise?

A House of Commons debate on prime minister Theresa May‘s decision to postpone a key Brexit vote descended into chaos this week when an MP leapt up to grab the chamber’s ceremonial mace.

Labour's Lloyd Russell-Moyle marched out of his seat and grabbed the sceptre, holding it in both hands before it was taken from him as Tory backbenchers cried “Disgrace!”, “Disgusting!” and “Expel him!”

The significance of the actions of the member for Brighton Kemptown might not be immediately apparent to the casual observer.

The five-foot long silver gilt civic mace is carried into the Commons by the serjeant-at-arms every day and placed before the elected representatives as a symbol of the monarch’s authority over them.

Parliament cannot pass laws without the sceptre and removing it, as Mr Russell-Moyle attempted to do, implies a loss of faith in the legitimacy of the reigning administration.

Speaker John Bercow appealed to Mr Russell-Moyle to abandon his protest and subsequently suspended him for the rest of the sitting.

“The symbolic gesture of lifting the mace and removing it is that the will of Parliament to govern is no longer there … I felt Parliament had effectively given up its sovereign right to govern properly,” the MP said afterwards.

“They stopped me before I got out of the chamber and I wasn’t going to struggle with someone wearing a huge sword on their hip.”

On Twitter that evening, Mr Russell-Moyle assured his followers he had not been locked in the Tower of London for disrespecting royal authority but said that, had he been, he would expect to see Ms May occupying the cell alongside his.

The mace itself is understood to date back to the 17th century and is thought to have been made for Charles II during the Restoration.

Previous members to have attempted to remove it include John McDonnell, the current Labour shadow chancellor, who was suspended for five days in 2009 after attempting to take it in opposition to the government's approval of a third runway at Heathrow airport.

In 1988, Scottish Labour member Ron Brown took the mace during a poll tax debate, only to drop it and cause damage that cost £1,500 to repair — a bill he paid in person.

Conservative shadow industry secretary Michael Heseltine also took it and waved it at the cheering Labour benches in 1976 after his party had lost a ballot on a bill by one vote. The mace was wrestled from his hands and he was asked to apologise a day later.