Vocal Voices

This debacle is why the House of Lords needs to be reformed.

The creation of Life Peers has been available to PM's since Macmillan's time and the ability has been used and abused by many of them, notably one Anthony Blair.

This latest bunch brings the total to just under 800, or about 600 too many, all of them riding the gravy train till they end up in a morgue.

The wheel turns but things remain the same.

In June 1922 Conservatives were able to show that he had been selling knighthoods and peerages — and the OBE which was created at this time — for money.

Just do away with it.

cromwell wrote:Just do away with it.

Fully agree. Some geezer who has donated something like £6m to the Tories has got a berth in there now. The award is said to be for "services to charity"; well we all beleive that don't we?

Freudian slip in the title of the thread, WM - a comment on the strange garb they have to wear?

At times the Lords was the only protection we had against rampant blairism. Even Labour peers turned against him.

It is an extremely valuable check and balance on the commons.

There is no way we can remove it and anything "political" which replaces it will be worse. Just look at the US and the Senate and the House or representatives. One party get's both and the whole thing changes.

Suff wrote:It is an extremely valuable check and balance on the commons.

It was an extremely valuable check and balance on the Commons before the political appointment of Life Peers.

Since that time all sitting PMs have loaded the dice in favour of their own political ideology. No amount of kidology from the House of Lords Appointments Commission is going to convince me that former MPs suddenly give up a lifetime's belief in one political persuasion or that friends of the PM suddenly become neutral upon becoming a Lord or Lady.

And this rule does not cut it: "Nominees and the Commission will need to feel confident of their ability to be independent of party-political considerations whatever their past party-political involvement. For this reason, all nominees are asked to respond to the questions on political involvement and activities which are similar to those used for most public appointments."

If political appointees really were independent they would all be crossbenchers, and we know that is not the case as we have Conservative, Labour and LibDem Peer groupings.

The HoL does not need doing away with, but is sure as hell needs reforming.

Just seen that there are more "Lords" in our Upper House than there are Senators in the Upper House in USA.
Can I apply for a Seat. I could do with £300 per day just to attend. Dave did say we are all in this together so I want to join the club.