'It's a smash and grab raid on the constitution': The last of the hereditary peers
A number of nobleman have had the chance to sit in parliament, simply by birthright - 92 seats in the House of Lords are eligible to male heirs in specific families and 88 men have taken these seats and currently sit in the second chamber to vote on legislation.
The prime minister has said that the right to sit in the second chamber bestowed at birth is an "indefensible" principle and his government have started the process to end hereditary peers for good.
Hardly smash and grab, but it isn't indefensible either. From what we know so far, this seems to be another example of Starmer's visceral dislike of independent people, particularly those oddballs who do not see the world through his narrow ideology. As if people who don't fit his ideological mould are seen as hostile, alien and untidily irrelevant.
He appears to prefer a House of Lords composed of political flotsam, failures, stooges, creeps, crooks, charlatans, loons, tuft-hunters, poseurs and self-important quacks.
Perhaps it’s no surprise, this is his preferred social milieu.
5 comments:
He doesn't seem to mind hereditary privilege when it involves a child of his being lent a flat in Soho for a couple of months so he can revise for his exams in peace. Nor if it involves queue-jumping in Madeira.
Nor does he seem to mind all the Red Princes/Princesses who litter his benches in the Commons.
People who qualify to sit in the House of Lords by bloodline are obviously less amenable to government patronage and that would never do.
[sarcasm]
Having said that some other way of forming a Second House ought to be available.
dearieme - yes, 'two-tier' Keir fits him very well indeed.
DJ - I'd be surprised if reform goes further than getting rid of hereditary peers. Further reform should happen, but using the Lords to reward cronies and get rid of duds suits them very well.
Interesting. I ricochet between thinking Starmer is a Marxist ideologue, and thinking he is mentally ill. This little snippet pushes me over to the first position, but tomorrow he'll want to release the sausages or queue-jump or something equally stupid, so we'll be back to square one.
Sam - I think he's both - a bonkers ideologue. He doesn't appear to know what is worth tackling and what isn't or what matters to other people. Rules, regulations and a few simple slogans which are never quite appropriate. A nutter.
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