Party's Over For British Lords
In 75 words or less, why would you like to remain in the House of Lords?
That's the question hereditary members of the House of Lords must answer in a brief essay, before an election this fall to select the lucky few who will keep their seats.
"The whole thing is ludicrous," says Lord Mancoft, a Conservative peer.
Currently, Lord Mancroft has his seat in the Lords, the upper house of Parliament because his grandfather, Arthur Michael Samuel Mancroft, was given a hereditary peerage in 1937 after long service in the House of Commons.
The House of Lords has little power. But it can amend bills from the House of Commons, thereby delaying legislation that otherwise might sail through Parliament when the governing party has a huge majority -- like Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor Party.
Blair is determined to eliminate all the 755 hereditary peers from the House of Lords. That would leave more than 500 other members of the House -- mostly life peers, appointed as a reward for their work, and also archbishops of the Church of England.
There are hardly any Labor supporters among the sundry dukes, marquesses, earls, countesses, viscounts, barons, baronesses and other bluebloods who inherited their seats.
The 471 Conservatives in the Lords include 299 hereditary peers, compared to 176 Labor members, of whom just 18 inherited their titles. The rest of the hereditary peers are affiliated with other parties or sit independently.
The election is an interim step that will allow 92 hereditary peers, elected by their colleagues, to keep their seats for a while.
But according to The Times the lucky few are already being called Tulips -- Temporary Unpaid Lord in Parliament.
Candidates will not be allowed to print posters, bombard their fellow lords with leaflets or otherwise campaign to keep their seats. They may submit only their 75 words by Oct. 21, to be published in the Lords Library. The election date has yet to be set.
News of the 75-word limit inspired some mirth. Columnist Giles Coren, writing in The Times, offered a model essay:
"Am proactive self-starter with good working knowledge of estate management, horsemanship, dithering, dribbling and claret drinking. Have experience in the intricacies of the tax system -- specifically in relation to inheritance tax loopholes -- and seller's knowledge of the art market."
For Earl Ferrers, 13th in a line going back to 1711, even 75 words was a bit much.
"People ought to know the peers for whom they wish to vote without people having to tout themselves around their colleagues to show how eminently electable they are," he said.
Indeed, some of their noble lords are exceedingly reticent. The diary column of The Guardian newspaper recently has been highlighting some of the 168 lords who have yet to speak in the chamber.
They include the Duke of Leinster, silent for 27 years; the Earl f Normanton, who took his seat 32 years ago, and two peers who have been in the house for 45 years -- the Earl of Coventry and the Marquess of Abergavenny.