Author: |Posted: 9:10 am on 16/11/09
Category: Snowblog
I continue to find, in talking to people, that it is the disrepute into which parliament has been dragged by the peers and MPs’ expenses scandal that dominates politics over and above party rivalry.
Hence Nick Clegg’s call today to cancel the Queen’s speech this week may have a stronger resonance than at first might appear. Clegg wants to use the last few weeks of this parliament to reform the political system rather than waste time debating a legislative programme that will never be enacted.
Author: |Posted: 6:05 pm on 12/11/09
Category: Snowblog
I am back on my old hobbyhorse of lords’ expenses.
I have now talked to a committee secretary, who informs me that none of their expenses are receipted.
Author: |Posted: 3:27 pm on 29/10/09
Category: Gary Gibbon on Politics
At first glance the Lords reforms unveiled this morning by Lord Eames, former Anglican Primate of All Ireland, looks like a bit of late catch-up with the Commons (they got an independent watchdog in 1995) and nothing like the orgy of retrospective self-flagellation which MPs have moved onto this autumn.
But there is a bit of retrospection in the Lords plans that could make life uncomfortable for peers who think they are out of the woods on their expenses. read more
Author: |Posted: 1:55 pm on 26/10/09
Category: Snowblog
Why is there to be no ‘Legg style’ investigation into the expenses of members of the House of Lords?
I have blogged before on the expenses culture in the House of Lords. read more
Author: |Posted: 10:59 am on 21/07/09
Category: Snowblog
Yes another one joins the House of Lords for life. Alan Sugar is yet one more Labour appointed member of the Upper House pushing the number of peers well beyond the 700 mark.
Author: |Posted: 12:49 pm on 10/06/09
Category: Snowblog
Gordon Brown will signal today whether the political classes “get it” when it comes to combating the expenses scandal in parliament.
“Getting it” extends well beyond expenses to full-blown reform of our system of governance, as I have written here before.
Author: |Posted: 12:15 pm on 01/06/09
Category: Snowblog
Gordon Brown talks of radical constitutional change. So does David Cameron. So does Nick Clegg. But is it going to happen?
It was the 19th century radical John Bright who conjured the phrase “Mother of Parliaments”. It’s a cosy, reassuring concept and has often been distorted to suggest Westminster is the “Mother of Parliaments”.
Author: |Posted: 10:10 am on 20/05/09
Category: Snowblog
I first set eyes on Gordon Brown at Edinburgh University in 1970.
We were both involved in student protests in our respective universities and I’d been invited from Liverpool University to give a talk to him and his fellow protesters on the campus in Edinburgh.
Author: |Posted: 2:57 pm on 18/05/09
Category: Snowblog
I am reliably informed that when new peers arrive in the House of Lords, there is a kind of informal induction process.
Baroness Helena Kennedy of The Shaws tells me that when she arrived in the house, a peer came up to her and almost immediately opened the question of “second homes”.
Author: |Posted: 10:33 am on 15/05/09
Category: Snowblog
I am very struck by the huge response to both Snowblog and Channel 4 News this week – high-quality contributions and a number of very personal comparisons with what is happening in regard to disclosure of MPs‘ arrangements. Stan, as you return to work today after nine months without a job, I wish you well.
