<P> "The mother of parliaments" is an expression coined by the British politician and reformer John Bright in a speech at Birmingham on 18 January 1865 . </P> <P> It was a reference to England . His actual words were: "England is the mother of parliaments". This was reported in The Times on the following day . </P> <P> The expression is often applied to the Parliament of the United Kingdom because of the adoption of the Westminster model of parliamentary democracy by many countries of the former British Empire . </P>

Why is the british parliament known as the mother of parliaments