wikidata

name	wikidata
description	Query Wikidata's SPARQL endpoint at query.wikidata.org/sparql, plus a quick `search` shortcut against the Wikidata web API for label → QID lookups, and an `entity` shortcut for the full Linked-Data JSON of a QID. Use when you need to cross-reference Parliament records (people, parties, constituencies) to identifiers in other ecosystems, when joining two datasets via Wikidata QIDs as a common bridge, or for free-form SPARQL over the world's largest open knowledge graph. CC0; the only ask is a polite User-Agent.
license	Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC0) — Wikimedia Foundation
metadata	{"facility":"wikidata","cli-alias":"wd","base-url":"https://query.wikidata.org/sparql","provenance":{"tier":3,"operator":"Wikimedia Foundation","service":"query.wikidata.org","upstream-data":"Community-curated Wikidata project (CC0)","citation-short":"via Wikidata","citation-formal":"Wikidata, Wikimedia Foundation, retrieved {date}, CC0","confidence":"derived","confidence-notes":"Wikidata IDs are community-curated. Cross-corpus identifier properties exist for UK politicians (TheyWorkForYou id, gov.uk profile slug, etc.) but the *specific property numbers* drift and we no longer hardcode them — discover via `entity(qid)` and inspect `claims` keys. For high-stakes joins, verify against the primary source."}}

Wikidata SPARQL

Base URL: https://query.wikidata.org/sparql. Free SPARQL 1.1 endpoint, CC0, no auth. WDQS requires a polite User-Agent (the library sets forgetmenot-wikidata/0.1 automatically).

Surface

Command	What
query <sparql>	Run any SPARQL 1.1 query. Auto-POSTs for queries > 1500 chars.
entity <qid>	Linked-Data JSON for one QID — every claim, label, sitelink.
search <label>	Wikidata web-API label search. Faster than SPARQL for "what's the QID of X".

Discovery pattern (use this for cross-IDs)

Wikidata's property catalogue is large and the right property numbers for UK-politician cross-refs drift. Don't hardcode. The reliable discovery loop:

# 1. Find the QID for a known politician you trust
parl wd search "Keir Starmer" --take 3

# 2. Pull the full entity JSON
parl wd entity Q333062

# 3. Inspect `claims` keys to find the cross-ID property numbers
#    (e.g. "P10428", "P2009") and their values

Then use the discovered property in SPARQL queries against the endpoint for all UK MPs:

parl wd query 'SELECT ?person ?label ?xid WHERE {
  ?person wdt:P<discovered> ?xid .
  OPTIONAL { ?person rdfs:label ?label . FILTER(LANG(?label)="en") }
} LIMIT 50'

Worked chain

postcode → constituency → MP → Wikidata → other corpora:

parl mapit postcode SW1P3JA              # → constituency + GSS
parl members constituency-search --search-text "Cities of London and Westminster"
parl members get <member-id>             # → MP name + Parliament id
parl wd search "<MP name>" --take 3      # → candidate QIDs
parl wd entity Q<qid>                    # → every cross-corpus id Wikidata knows

Existing cached extracts in this repo

For pre-resolved UK-politician cross-IDs, see third_party/data/wikidata/ — JSON-Lines + Turtle bridge files maintained by the govuk-orgchart tooling.

Provenance to cite

Tier 3 — third-party (Wikimedia Foundation), CC0.

• Inline cite: "(via Wikidata)" — once per paragraph.
• Wikidata claims are community-curated. For high-stakes identity statements, verify cross-IDs against the primary source.
• Never hardcode property numbers from memory; discover via entity(qid).
• See ../../docs/provenance.md.