Baroness Murphy has already commented on the allegations in The Sunday Times made against four peers. Both the Leader of the House, Baroness Royall, and the Leader of the Opposition, Lord Strathclyde, have said that the allegations are such as to justify an immediate and thorough inquiry. The House has in place the mechanism for…
As regular readers will be aware, the House of Lords is a self-regulating chamber. The Lord Speaker has no powers in the chamber. The House collectively is responsible for order. No one has to catch the Speaker’s eye in order to speak. If you wish to speak in a set-piece debate, you sign up in advance. …
Former Chancellor Kenneth Clarke has been appointed Shadow Business Secretary. He will be the opposite number to Lord Mandelson. However, he will not be facing Lord Mandelson as they sit in different chambers. Lord Mandelson answers directly to peers and can be called to appear by committees in the Commons. Conversely, ministers in the Commons…
The House of Lords gets relatively little media attention. That applies not only to the chamber but also to committees. The House used to be a chamber-oriented institution, making little use of investigative committees. That has changed in recent years and the House has become a much more specialised body. It has created more select…
The first debate in the House today was a three-hour debate, introduced by former Education Secretary, Baroness Shephard of Northwold, on the functioning of Children’s Services Departments. I took part in the debate. It is not one of my principal areas of interest, but I was interested in one particular aspect. Under the Government’s proposals…
