Rogues in the Lords

 A  report last February showed that nearly 100 members of the Lords were paid to give political or policy advice by commercial firms. One former minister earned millions of pounds by working for 30 companies. Multiple peers are being paid by foreign governments, including repressive regimes.

Politics and business are bound together in the Lords, with peers able to book plush rooms to pursue their private interests. Perhaps that is why the Earl of Shrewsbury forgot he couldn't claim travel expenses to attend a business conference. He got banned from the Lords for the second time in three years.

 

Feast of Fools
Frans Floris the elder (c. 1517-1570)
Picture Credit:: Shakespeare Birthplace Trust  [CC BY-NC-ND]  

Last year, Ian Duncan, a deputy speaker of the Lords, was found to have breached the rules by providing a parliamentary service for Terrestrial Energy when he facilitated an introduction between its chief executive and a new energy minister. Others have apologised for similar slip-ups, such as promoting their cryptocurrency companies and seeking to profit personally from membership of the second chamber.

In November, the Lords conduct committee suspended David Evans and Richard Dannatt after finding that each had breached rules prohibiting members from offering parliamentary services for payment or reward. They will be back at work by Easter.

Finally, it's unbelievable that Michelle Mone still has a peerage, despite lying about being closely involved with a company run by her husband that sold faulty Covid PPE gear, and cost us taxpayers more than £100m. The pandemic cost the government an estimated £11bn in fraud and error, not helped by the fast-track contracts scheme set up by the Conservatives that bypassed the usual checks and safeguards.

Then there are peers who don't do any work - who turn up only rarely, while loving the prestige that comes from being part of this grand but semi-derelict club.

Reforming such an ingrained workplace culture of treating politics as a business opportunity requires taking away peerages. I don't say that lightly. I am honoured to be a peer. As someone from a poor working-class background, born and bred on a council estate, I get furious at the people who don't take the job seriously. It comes with an obligation  to work to improve legislation and help society function better.

Many peers feel the same way. We have some success, but we lack the democratic legitimacy to challenge the government. And, of course, all of us peers are here because of political patronage, or inheritance. For all the good we are able to do, it would be better still to tear up the system and rebuild it in a more democratic way. The question is why the system of patronage and an unelected second chamber is still allowed to exist. It's way past time to abolish it and urgently replace it with something elected and modern.

(Jenny Jones, a Green party peer, The Guardian, 2026)

For how many years has this been going on? Nothing radical has ever happened about seriously reforming the House of Lords. No wonder the public is so apathetic to the whole political process when there is the constant drip of the profit motive and patronage emanating from our political masters. Three cheers for Jenny Jones.