An election to the House of Lords? Surely not!
The House of Lords is a very strong contender to be the most bizarre legislative institution in the world. As I explain my “Short Guide To The British Political System”:
“Historically most members of the House of Lords have been what we called hereditary peers. This meant that years ago a king or queen nominated a member of the aristocracy to be a member of the House and, since then, the right to sit in the House has passed through the family from generation to generation. Clearly this is totally undemocratic and the last Labour Government abolished the right of all but 92 of these hereditary peers to sit in the House.
Almost all the other members of today’s House of Lords are what we call life peers. This means that they have been chosen by the Queen, on the advice of the Government, to sit in the House for as long as they live, but afterwards no member of their family has the right to sit in the House. Many are former senior politicians. Others are very distinguished figures in fields such as education, health and social policy.
A small number of other members – 26 – are Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of England. Iran is the only other country in the world that provides automatic seats for senior religious figures in its legislature.”
Thanks to my colleague and friend, Lord (Jim) Knight, I have become aware that there is currently an election in process to fill a vacancy in the Lords. How come? Jim explains here.
Later this week, more life peers will be appointed to the Lords bringing the total of peers to around 800 when the elected House of Commons is only 650 and the plan is to cut that number by 65. Crazy!
October 19th, 2014 at 1:52 am
I have been searching the Internet for some time trying to find the names of the 15 candidates, of whom, The Guardian tells me, 9 are Conservative, 4 are Liberal-Democrats and 2 are cross-benchers. Whilst The Guardian reveals some peers’ names – Rowallan, Harlech, Layton – they didn’t print the full field or give a clue as to this political rotten borough will elect. Curious by the way that the alternative vote is used, having been rejected in a U.K referendum for the elections to the other place, the House of Commons.
Someone should have nominated the new Duke of Marlborough whose string of convictions would have put the other felons sitting in the Lords into the shade.
The Lords’ hereditary contingent should be ousted in the first Parliament of the next Labour government, even if how an elected second chamber might take a bit longer to get through.
October 19th, 2014 at 1:56 am
Oh and like London buses, there’s another such by-election right behind. As there is no system for losing a deposit, the unsuccessful from this by-election will possibly run in the next too?, Self-nominated.
October 19th, 2014 at 2:26 am
No sooner did I post my first comment than I found the candidates’ list:
Conservative:- The Earl of Stockton, Lord Harlech, Lord Sudeley, Lord Margadsle, Viscount Massereene and Ferrard, Lord Rowallan, Lord Middleton, Lord Layton, Lord Biddulph, Lord Cadman
Liberal Democrat:- The Earl of Oxford & Asquith, Lord Kennet,
Cross bench:- Lord Napier & Ettrick, Lord Calverley, Lord Somerleyton
My money – though I may be wrong – is on Lord Stockton, with whom I once sat on the London Business Enterprise Partnership, and who is one of two descendants of 20th century Prime Ministers (his forebear being Harold Macmillan) in the running. The other, the Earl of Oxford & Asquith, is descended from H H Asquith who led the U.K into the Great War. If Oxford & Asquith – a Roman Catholic I believe – got elected, he would surely be the first former British Embassy In Moscow MI6 agent to get into the Lords. Stockton has been close behind the winner in two previous by-elections.
October 19th, 2014 at 9:36 am
Thanks for your assiduous research, Dan. This really is a farce.
October 20th, 2014 at 10:15 am
It is truly bizarre and, like the rest of Parliament, in need of radical overhaul. There is a danger that the Lords is so ridiculous that all the reforming energy is used sorting it out, leaving nothing left for the urgent job of rejuvenating representation. We need a clean sweep through the whole place!
Incidentally we do have 2/3 Labour hereditaries – however bizarre that may sound!
J