Ousted Conservative former Cabinet ministers take seats in unelected Lords
Two Tory former Cabinet ministers ousted by voters at the last election have returned to Westminster to take up their seats in the House of Lords.
Victoria Prentis KC, who previously served as attorney general, and Simon Hart, who held the posts of Welsh secretary and chief whip in the Conservative government, were handed peerages in Rishi Sunak’s resignation honours list.
Ms Prentis lost the Oxfordshire seat of Banbury, which had been held by the Tories since the First World War, to Labour in last year’s rout at the polls.
Caerfyrddin
Mr Hart was pushed into third place in the Welsh constituency of Caerfyrddin, with Plaid Cymru coming first.
Baroness Prentis of Banbury wore the traditional scarlet robes for the short introduction ceremony in the unelected chamber, where she swore allegiance to the King.
She was supported by Tory former prime minister Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and independent crossbencher Lord Burnett of Maldon, who previously served as Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales.
Also donning the scarlet robes, Lord Hart of Tenby was supported by fellow Tory peers Lord Brady of Altrincham and Lord Hunt of Wirral.
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The reason that the Lords remains appointed is that Blair could not bear to give up the power of appointment. Extensive debates were held and it was concluded that a 100% elected house was the best option but the whole idea was shelved. This is because the Commons delude themselves that they are democratically elected (by first past the post???) and their dominance would be impaired by an elected second house. In fact a properly constituted second house elected would be a threat to the Commons which by definition is dominated by the Prime Minister because it would be orders… Read more »
Disgraceful-the sooner we are out if this corrupt rancid union the better
The prize for failing up and keeping Wales down. The injury on top of the insult. The double down on the devastating single. The punch in the face after the kick in the ass. The reward for defending the Empires’ resources by extracting ours. The middle finger following the thumbed nose. He is the embodiment of Tory anti Welsh disdain.
So Simon Hart who wanted a referendum on more politicians in the elected Senedd (which he is opposed) is happily taking his seat (and money) as an extra and unelected politician in the unelected House of Lords. His hypocrisy knows no bounds.
At least it will keep him off the streets where he could be a real bl**dy nuisance !
The recent state opening of parliament in Canada was interesting. A system modelled on Westminster and still stuck in the past, yet light years ahead of the original. One obvious improvement over the Lords is their Senate’s fixed number of seats (105) with fixed regional allocations for each province and territory, from Ontario and Quebec having 24 seats each, Alberta and BC having 6, down to Yukon and NT with one. Less populous regions are overrepresented to avoid any one region dominating the agenda.