Blog posts tagged "House of Lords"

June 1, 2009 12:15 pm No Comments

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”.

May 20, 2009 10:10 am No Comments

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.

May 18, 2009 2:57 pm No Comments

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”.

May 15, 2009 10:33 am No Comments

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.

May 13, 2009 11:39 am No Comments

The juxtaposition of the huge surge in unemployment with the latest revelations of parliamentary sleaze concentrate the mind no end. According to one of my well-informed sources, David Cameron’s greatest fear about this continuing crisis is that a credible group of people will come forward and form some sort of party that will contest the [...]

May 11, 2009 5:50 pm No Comments

Amid the furore in which MPs from all parties appeared to abuse the Commons expenses rules without actually breaking them (see my posting yesterday), let us not forget the House of Lords. Who remembers that four of their lordships were subject to a newspaper sting reported in January this year, which alleged they were prepared [...]

May 10, 2009 2:49 pm 170 Comments

To hear Harriet Harman (leader of the House of Commons) on Friday night, MPs think they have now put their House in order. But surely “redacted” information about how they dispose of taxpayers’ cash into their expenses claims has to be transparent?

February 10, 2009 10:27 am No Comments

In these days of the gathering credit crunch consequences and the recession or depression, is it my imagination or is morality coming back into play? Three instances in a week. The cascade of lords “on the take”, who told a Sunday newspaper they were prepared to influence legislation in return for money, may prompt a [...]

January 27, 2009 3:46 pm No Comments

The story of the four lords a-leaping (for allegedly offering to affect legislation in return for cash inducements) prompts all sorts of questions about the upper house of our legislature. The House of Lords prides itself on the quality of debates, and I’m the first to accept that there are some amazing brains in there, [...]