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Sir Robert Worcester is chairman of the Magna Carta 800th Commemoration Committee.

The Magna Carta fringe meeting at the LGA conference drew a small (but perfectly formed) group of history buffs to hear local government minister Brandon Lewis describe the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta as his mission to deliver ‘an important message for local councillors…Magna Carta was the fore-runner for the de Montfort Parliament and the spread of the Rule of Law throughout the world and we should celebrate it – it is Britain's most important export'. As chairman of the Magna Carta 800th Committee, I outlined some of the forward planning. This includes the largest exhibition the British Library has ever mounted, exhibitions in Magna Carta cathedrals, including Salisbury and Lincoln, Hereford, Durham, Oxford and in London (National Archives, Supreme Court, Guildhall and Parliament), Canterbury, Worcester and other cities, towns and villages. Odiham in Hampshire should be especially commended as it is already well advanced in its planning for the 2015 commemoration. The next meeting of stakeholders for the Magna Carta's 800th anniversary Commemoration will take place in St Albans on 2 August, in conjunction with the town's weekend of commemoration of the gathering of barons who met in St Albans Abbey to decide between regicide (bringing in the French King to rule over England) or to parlay with King John to obtain the rights they were demanding.