The last Prime Minister to be drawn from the Lords and to remain in the House was the Third Marquess of Salisbury. All subsequent premiers have sat in the Commons. When they have given up the reins of office, they have been offered peerages. Not all have taken up the offer or not taken it up immediately.
The Speaker of the House of Commons is also offered a peerage upon stepping down from the Chair. The precedent was set at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Sir John Freeman-Mitford was Speaker from 1801 to 1802 and upon stepping down was raised to the peerage as Lord Redesdale. As Philip Marsden noted in his book, The Officers of the Commons 1363-1978, “he was the first Speaker to be ennobled directly for his service to the House, a precedent which, once set, has been followed ever since.” Despite the criticisms of Michael Martin as Speaker, the precedent was sufficiently strong to ensure that he was ennobled. The convention reflects the fact that the Speaker came to be seen as a neutral presiding officer, someone who gave up political involvement and remained neutral thereafter. (Former Speakers sit on the cross-benches in the Lords.) The only way a Speaker fails to be ennobled is if s/he dies in office.
The quiz questions this week are:
1. Excluding the incumbent, there have been eleven Prime Ministers since 1945. Of these, seven were ennobled and four were not. Who are the four who did not (or have not) entered the Lords?
2. Who was the last Speaker of the House of Commons to die in office?
3. The media variously claimed that Michael Martin was the first Speaker to be forced from office in over three-hundred years. As regular readers will know, he wasn’t. Who was the last Speaker to be voted out of office?
The first two readers to supply the correct answers will be declared the winners.
1. blair, major, heath, churchill
2. sir harry hylton-foster
the other speaker who died in office was Edward FitzRoy
1. Winston Churchill, Ted Heath, John Major and Tony Blair. Intrestingly the first three were all made Knights of the Garter
2 Harry Hylton-Foster in 1965. so his wife was raised to the peerage instead as Baroness Hylton-Foster.
3. Charles Manners-Sutton in 1835
Rob, all former PMs are traditionally made Knights (or ladies) of the Garter. There isn’t currently room for Blair, but no doubt he’ll join them once there is. It’s one honour that’s still a personal gift from the Queen.
PMs used to be made earls on retirement too. Perhaps we should revive that, given that so many no longer want to go to the House of Lords. Any suggestions for what Tony Blair’s title should be?
Earl Blair with a subsidiary title of Baron Sedgefield
1 – Winston Churchill, Ted Heath, Harold Wilson, John Major
2 – Harry Hylton-Foster
3 – Charles Manners-Sutton, 1835
1. Tony Blair, Sir John Major, Sir Edward Heath, Sir Winston Churchill
2. Sir Harry Hylton-Foster (d. 1965). His wife was granted a life peerage instead.
3. Sir Charles Manners-Sutton, in 1835.
I believe Churchill came close to accepting a peerage, said to have been a dukedom (Duke of London) but was persuaded not to by his son, who feared it would prevent him following in his father’s footsteps.
The irony is, not only was the Peerage Act in force by the time Churchill died, Randolph Churchill died only two years after his father, and had not been an MP since the war in any case.
Question 1:
1. Winston Chruchill
2. Edward Heath
3. John Major
4. Tony Blair
Question 2:
Harry Hylton-Foster
Question 3:
Charles Manners-Sutton
1.Tony Blair, John Major, Edward Heath and Winston Churchill (I do have to mention that since 1780 two foreigners have been named honorary US Citizens and one was Sir Winston).
2. Hylton-Foster
3.James Milner
Correction: There have been six honorary US Citizens –one I remembered and the others I looked up. My apologies. I could only remember the Marquis de Lafayette as I was typing my answer.
Congratulations to Rob, who came in first with all three correct answers, followed by Jonathan. They are this week’s prize winners. Derfel missed out by including Harold Wilson in place of Blair. There is little I can add, since readers have added appropriate details. Sir Harry Hylton-Foster collapsed and died in 1965. As has been mentioned, his widow was elevated to the peerage. She later served as convenor of the cross-bench peers. Sir Charles Manners Sutton was the last Speaker to be voted out of office, when he sought re-election in 1835. The Whigs felt he had been too partial to the Tories in the previous Parliament, with the result that he lost by six votes to James Abercromby. Manners Sutton was created Viscount Canterbury.
Franksummers3ba: James Milner was not the Speaker. He was the Deputy Speaker and failed in 1951 to be elected to the Speakership. The House voted by 318 votes to 251 to elect William (‘Shakes’) Morrison.
According to my records, in addition to our four grand prize-winners (Chris K., Jonathan, Robin Lewis, and Ulysses), Rob has now won twice, as has Croft, with the following each having one win to their name: howridiculous, Run Seven, Richard Kaszeta, Michael, Ken, and franksummers3ba.