Saturday, June 01, 2019
Lords gravy train must come to an end
Today's Guardian carries the barely surprising news that one in five members of the House of Lords are working as consultants or advisers to private businesses at the same time as serving in parliament.
According to their report, an analysis of the Register of Lords’ Interests shows 169 peers reported working as advisers earlier this year, with more than a dozen registering that they were also paid by foreign governments on top of the expenses they are entitled to as peers.
They say that the consultancies range from a former Conservative MP advising the company of a Romanian businessman facing extradition, through to a former chief of defence staff who advises the government of Bahrain. The worlds of finance, energy, mining and defence are extensively represented among peers’ clients.
The reason I am not surprised at this is because the House of Lords is effectively a club for retired politicians. It does a very valuable job in revising and scrutinising legislation, but it has never been a full-time occupation, it is poorly paid by Central London standards, members are unaccountable and there are far too many of them.
If you want members of a second chamber to behave as professional politician then abolish the House of Lords and replace it with a directly elected second chamber with far fewer members.
According to their report, an analysis of the Register of Lords’ Interests shows 169 peers reported working as advisers earlier this year, with more than a dozen registering that they were also paid by foreign governments on top of the expenses they are entitled to as peers.
They say that the consultancies range from a former Conservative MP advising the company of a Romanian businessman facing extradition, through to a former chief of defence staff who advises the government of Bahrain. The worlds of finance, energy, mining and defence are extensively represented among peers’ clients.
The reason I am not surprised at this is because the House of Lords is effectively a club for retired politicians. It does a very valuable job in revising and scrutinising legislation, but it has never been a full-time occupation, it is poorly paid by Central London standards, members are unaccountable and there are far too many of them.
If you want members of a second chamber to behave as professional politician then abolish the House of Lords and replace it with a directly elected second chamber with far fewer members.
