As Senator Rand Paul completes a 6-hour speech, are filibusters democratic heroes? The latest practitioner of the move is US Republican senator Rand Paul who yesterday delayed Obama's CIA nomination with a six-hour speech in protest against drones. "I will speak until I can no longer speak," Paul said, and so he did. The UK Parliament also has a long tradition of fillibustering. In 1983, Labour MP John Golding managed 11 hours (with breaks to eat), in an attempt to delay a vote on the British Telecommunications Bill. Paul's speech matches the all-time Commons record for non-stop speaking, set by Henry Brougham in 1828, although since that speech was not actually for filibustering purposes, presumably Brougham was just a windbag.