https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/nigel-farage-constituency-surgeries-clacton-on-sea-knives/
A row has erupted over Nigel Farage’s decision to not hold any in-person constituency surgeries.
I'm a dumb American who has never seen the word surgeries used in this context. Can someone explain?
We also use surgery as you would use clinic. Hence we see our family doctor at the doctor's surgery.
When you go to see your representative in parliament, it's a similar set-up, so they also get called surgeries.
Yup, thank you again. I'd gathered from the article that it was likely a sort of political consultation but even looking in a dictionary didn't exactly clear it up.
In old UK English surgery had 2 meanings.
The common medical one. And a general alteration.
This means MPs and parliment have applied the term to the time our representatives spend gaining input from voters in theiir constituancy. As before commons became powerful it was more a lords of the manner position.
At the time when the position was more royal. IE lords and land owners. It allowed the lords to hear requests for alterations on how they managed the constituancy.
Now its more about a meeting where MPs hear from indevidual voters about issues they can help with.