An academic colleague came to see me at the House yesterday. When a vote was called, he said to me ‘there is still a Conservative majority in the House, isn’t there?’ He is a specialist in British politics! This view appears still to be widely held. I had to point out that, since the House…
This week I have had an opportunity not only to be engaged in business in the Lords but also to look more broadly at our constitutional arrangements. On Tuesday, I spoke at a sixth-form conference at Wellington College (above) on ‘Britain’s changing constitution’ and this morning I spoke to undergraduates at Wroxton College (below), the…
No one party has a majority in the Lords. There are three groupings of similar size – Labour with 216 peers, the Conservatives with 202 and the Cross-benchers with 196 – plus 78 Liberal Democrats, the Lords Spiritual (26) and the law lords (12). As a result, the party in government has to engage with…
Another school visit this afternoon. I spoke to Year 12 students studying Politics at Wanstead High School (pictured) in North-East London. One of the questions I was asked was ‘Do you enjoy working in the Lords and would you stand for election if it was to be elected?’ The answer was yes and no. Peers…
I commented in one of my posts about the fact that media reports about the House of lords tended to show pictures of the State Opening of Parliament and not the House in action. One or two of those who commented made the fair point that I should be illustrating my post with a picture…
