In the run-up to Christmas, I shall publish the names of grand prize-winners to date. I also plan to include those readers who have been regular contributors to the quiz, frequently getting answers correct but not necessarily being among the first two to supply the answers. I think they too merit an invitation to tea at the Lords. For this week’s quiz, just three questions. As usual, the first two readers to supply the answers will be the winners.
1. Under the Salisbury convention, the House of Lords does not divide on the Second Reading of a Bill that gives effect to a commitment embodied in the governing party’s manifesto. But why may it be considered a misnomer to refer to it as the Salisbury convention?
2. The longest sitting of the House took place when the House met at 11.00 a.m. on the Thursday morning and did not rise until 7.31 p.m. on the Friday evening. (When the House rose at 7.31 p.m., Lord Selsdon and I were the last two peers to leave the chamber.) In what year did this sitting take place?
3. Who was the last Labour hereditary peer to serve as Leader of the House of Lords?
1. Salisbury was the leader of the Conservative Opposition in the Lords at the time, but Lord Addison was the Labour peer who helped set up the agreement when Atlee had a huge mandate in the Commons. As such, he was only one of the parties involved.
2. March 2005, on the Prevention of Terrorism Bill
3. Lord Shepherd, later created a life peer so he could remain in the Lords.
1) Because it was an agreement between Lord Salisbury and Lord Addison.
2) 2005
3) Lord Shepherd
1. In 1945, when the Salisbury Convention was “born”, its “father” was in fact not yet Marquess of Salisbury but heir apparent to the Marquessate and still styled Viscount Cranborne being a member of the House of Lords by virtue of a writ of acceleration in his father’s junior title of Baron Cecil.
2. In 2005 on the Prevention of Terrorism Bill.
3. Lord Shepherd
1.The Salisbury Convention originates in the doctrine of the mandate advanced by 5th Marquess of Salisbury in late 19th century. Trying to defend the role of the Lords in an era of increasing suffrage, he argued that the will of the people and the will of the Commons did not always coincide, and hence that the Lords should reject particularly contentious bills, particularly constitutional ones.
However, since 1945, the Salisbury doctrine has been taken to apply to Bills passed by the Commons which the party forming the Government has foreshadowed in its General Election manifesto. It is associated with an understanding between Viscount Addison, the Leader of the House of Lords, and Viscount Cranborne (the fifth Marquess of Salisbury from 1947), Leader of the Opposition in the Lords, 1945-51.
Thus it could be considered something of a misnomer to call it the Salisbury convention, as it is different from the earlier ‘Salisbury doctrine’ and was an agreement between Salisbury and Addison. Indeed, it is sometimes called the Salisbury-Addison doctrine, particularly by Labour peers (and I suppose could have been called the Cranbourne-Addison doctrine).
2. 2005 (The Prevention of Terrorism Bill.)
3. Malcolm Newton Shepherd, 2nd Baron Shepherd (later ennobled as a life peer)
1. I am not as sure with this as with the others, but is it because upon the establishment of the current convention in 1945, Viscount Cranbourne was not yet the Marquess of Salisbury, which he would not get for another two years?
2. 2005; in March for the Prevention of Terrorism Bill
3. Lord Shepherd (1974-76)
1) Like the current Leader of the Conservative Peers but one, the Lord Salisbury in question was actually summoned by writ of summons as Viscount Cranborne, and was serving under that title at the time the convention began.
2) (10 to 11 March) 2005
3) Malcolm, Lord Shepherd (1974–1976)
1) It was devised jointly by Lord Salisbury and Lord Addison (who was the Leader of the House at the time) and is more properly known as the Salisbury-Addison convention.
2) 2005? I’m thinking it might be the ping-pong over the terrorism laws.
3) Lord Shepherd (the 2nd Baron, incidentally!)
1) Lord Salisbury (i.e. the 5th Marquess of Salisbury) was still known as known as Viscount Cranborne at the relevant time, i.e. 1945
2) 2005 (10-11 March, on the Prevention of Terrorism Bill)
3) Malcolm Newton Shepherd, in office 4 March 1974 – 10 September 1976, as 2nd Baron Shepherd. Nowadays he is also a life peer as Baron Shepherd of Spalding
I think all of the above (nine so far) are saying something passably intelligent, and inherently challenging.
Thank you.
Perhaps I’ll become sufficiently-enabled to ‘compete’, and perhaps to catch up with you-all, some day.
Many thanks for the contributions. Everyone got the second and third questions correct. It was indeed 2005 (March) that we had the longest sitting – I remember it well – and the late Lord Shepherd was the last Labour hereditary peer to serve as Leader of the House of Lords (1974-76). Like other former Leaders, he was offered a life peerage in 1999 and sat as Lord Shepherd of Spalding until his death in 2001.
It was the first question that divided readers. The question was worded in such a way as to focus on the name. The answer is that Salisbury was not, in fact, Salisbury but at the time was sitting as Lord Cranborne, having been brought ínto the House, as Ulysses mentions, on a writ of acceleration (enabling him to join the House while his father was still alive). The current Marquess of Salisbury also entered the House on such a writ. Although sometimes referred to as the Salisbury-Addison convention, it was not that which primarily renders it a misnomer. Salisbury was the prime mover and it just as appropriate to refer to it as the Salisbury convention as the Salisbury-Addison convention.
Given that, the winners on this occasion are Ulysses and John Tomlinson, who manages to cover both possibilities in respect of the Salisbury convention.