In a post on my blog a couple of years ago, I drew attention to the fact that some Baronesses who previously had been made Dames were still referred to on occasion by the BBC as Dames. Baroness Grey-Thompson, for example, was sometimes referred to as ‘Dame Tanni’ – this some years after her elevation to the peerage. This…
The House has just lost two senior members with the deaths of Lord Richard and Lord Crickhowell. Lord Richard (Ivor Richard) was a former Labour MP and UK Ambassador the UN. In the Lords, he served as Leader of the House after Labour’s return to power in 1997. He also chaired the Richard Commission on Welsh…
In a post on my blog, I have drawn attention to the report from the Procedure Committee which was agreed yesterday by the House. Part of the report was to inform the House that in future the names of Government Departments that failed to respond to reports from select committees within two months would be…
The House of Lords is criticised by some commentators on grounds of cost. The criticisms are often levelled without any benchmark against which to assess value. In a post on my own blog, I have drawn attention to the problems of ascribing a monetary value to the work of the House, not least in terms…
One of the principal provisions of the House of Lords Reform Act 2014 – a Private Member’s Bill steered through Parliament by Dan Byles MP and Lord Steel of Aikwood – was to enable peers to retire. Since its enactment, a good number have made use of the provision. Several leading figures have retired in recent…
