Howridiculous asked me to comment on my introduction to the Lords – what happened, who were my supporters, how long was it before I made my maiden speech? As I have mentioned before, there are two parts to becoming a member of the Lords. First, your peerage takes effect – you become a Lord. Second,…
We had a long debate on this Bill yesterday with around 50 Peers speaking – it was a long haul! I think the standard of debate was good with powerful contributions on both sides of the argument. I repeated a point I have made before that we need to borrow an aspect of continental law…
The Second Reading debate yesterday on the Counter-Terrorism Bill was notable for the quality as well as the quantity of contributions. There were some high-powered speeches. As has been widely reported, the former head of MI5, Baroness Manningham-Buller, made her maiden speech, opposing the provision for 42-days pre-charge detention. Two former members of MI6, Baroness Ramsay…
The Sunday Times yesterday carried a leak as to one of the recommendations that will be appearing in the Government White Paper on Lords reform: provision for a recall election for elected members of the upper house. The proposal rather reflects the muddled thinking that has underpinned work on the White Paper. The idea is to…
I thought it may be worthwhile repeating a comment just contributed to my earlier post on engaging with the public: SARAH: ‘Not many people know that they may write to any lord about an issue that concerns them. I did this recently and my reward was a full debate arising from my letter. I was…
I know that this is a contentious issue but I think the debate on Afghanistanoften misses an important point about the nature of the conflict. This is not just a group of ill equipped tribesmen fighting the international forces but a mixture of sophisticated and very determined groups with a common aim of restoring Taliban rule.…
Earlier today, the House was debating the increase in world food prices. There were some interesting speeches, including from Lord Alton of Liverpool on the cross-benches. He touched upon the extent to which problems such as world poverty may be neglected when people in developed countries come under economic pressure. It is the enduring dilemma:…
Tony Benn was briefly a reluctant member of the second chamber (the 2nd Viscount Stansgate) and has been a longstanding critic of the unelected second chamber. He is, as has been widely reported, supporting David Davis in the Haltemprice and Howden by-election because of his vehement opposition to the proposal for 42-days pre-charge detention. I…
When I spoke at Chingford Foundation School last week, I asked the pupils how many members they thought there were in the Lords and which party had a majority. Most underestimated the number and tended to the view that the Conservatives had a majority. This is a not uncommon response. Audiences tend to be surprised…
