As Steph promptly answered yesterday’s question, here’s a couple more: Peer 1 1. As a peer, I have been in and out. 2. I spent a year organising my parliamentary troops. 3. I have served royalty. Who am I? Peer 2: 1. I am one of the youngest members of the House. 2. I was a candidate…
This weekend’s quiz question (though I may do another, depending on how quickly this one is answered): Which peer set a record by serving in the same government post for the whole of the period of Conservative government from 1979 to 1997?
Lord Soley raises the important question of lobbying, that is, making representations in order to achieve a change in public policy. Lobbying is often used as a perjorative term, but it is intrinsic to a free society. In the USA, it enjoys constitutional protection. Lord Soley rightly identifies transparency as crucial to parliamentary lobbying: it…
The Lord Chancellor, Jack Straw, gave evidence to the Constitution Committee in the Lords yesterday. It was a wide-ranging session covering a number of constitutional issues. I put a number of questions to him. The Lord Chancellor knows who I am, and has variously quoted me, but he seems to have problems with my name. …
The House was originally scheduled to have a debate today on developments in Gaza (see my earlier post). However, given the number of peers who have signed up to speak, it has been re-scheduled and a Friday sitting (6 February) cleared for it. As I previously reported, some of those contributing are extremely well qualified to…
