Blog
House of Lords: Night of the Long Winded
19th January 2011
The House of Lords is in the spotlight at the moment as arguments for its reform are percolating and Lords obstruction to AV reform proposals are getting column inches [especially the Lords wakefulness]. Todays papers have a number of useful articles.
Simon Heffer in the The Daily Telegraph argues that The last thing the House of Lords needs is a mass of elected members as it would be useless, dangerous and elected Lords would lack calibre. He writes:
“Some of us secretly liked Old Labour because it was so deeply conservative. Mr Attlee, for example, would go to dinner in white tie and decorations, and would sport a silk top hat at funerals, and he saw no contradiction between working-class solidarity and his acceptance of the Garter and a (well-merited) earldom. One of his apostolic successors is Baroness Boothroyd, the last good Speaker of the Commons, who in a splendidly upright interview last weekend told some long-overdue truths. Her pronouncements on expenses-fiddling MPs and the idiotic appearance of her successor deserve respect: but most telling of all were her views on reform of the House of Lords.”
It is worth cross-referencing Simon Hefer’s views with those of Rachel Sylvester in the Times - Fiddling with the House of Lords could prove counterproductive
Here a few bits on the Lords AV fight:
Quentin Letts in the Daily Mail has a waspish, but amusing article - He had gone completely… he was so fast asleep. He scribbles: “By the middle of yesterday afternoon, the House of Lords could have been Heathrow’s Terminal One during the recent snows. A crowd of fed-up people was trapped in stuffy air. Some grumbled. Others slept.Lord Palmer (Crossbench) leaned at a greater angle than the Tower of Pisa, eyes clamped shut like a snoozing mussel. How he didn’t topple into the aisle, I cannot say. The chest of Lord Fearn (Lib Dem) rose and fell, Sleeping Beauty awaiting her prince. Someone’s mobile telephone kept ringing. It went unanswered. No one had the energy to protest.” While, the Independent has Night of the long-winded: peers waffle to sabotage voting reform legislation