Last of the Lords

Starmer gets out the wrecking ball

LAURA PERRINS

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer KC has the wrecking ball out again. This time the target is hereditary peers of the House of Lords. Alice Thomson in the Times has an excellent piece.

Thomson, “Farewell to the Lords. Nearly 1,000 years of history has come to an end. This week the hereditary peers will finally be banished from the Palace of Westminster. With no fisticuffs or fanfare they are quietly slipping away, back to the shires. The government has neither thanked them for their service nor made a show of kicking them out of the door.”

These men were given the boot yesterday ‘because privilege.’ Never mind that they are at least aware of their privilege as it was inherited and you can’t hide the luck involved in that. They also, to a man, did their duty and took their roles as Lords very seriously.

Now, Starmer and whatever PM comes after him can replace these Lords with men like Lord Hermer and Lord Mandelson. Quite the improvement.

Thomson again, “Few of these tail-end aristocrats were arrogant, knowing they were there by an accident of birth. There were academics, entrepreneurs, environmentalists, farmers, barristers, housebuilders and nuclear engineers sitting on the red benches. They understood their duty, came from disparate parts of the realm, and many were prepared to give their time and expertise to improve our laws.”

And “there is a pattern here. This government appears intent on smashing up Britain’s old way of life.” Well said Alice Thomson.

As Roger Scruton said on How to be a Conservative, “conservatism starts from a sentiment that all mature people can readily share: the sentiment that good things are easily destroyed, but not easily created.”

Hereditary peers are another good thing destroyed by the crazed leftists that believe anything old is bad and must be dismantled. This is because they cannot understand the role. I have no doubt that Starmer and the rest of them are mystified by what motivates a Lord, handed his role and duty from birth. The Lord’s contribution to public service was demanded of him by something ancient that he had no control over. It was not by choice. Who in this world, where individualism reigns supreme and everything is on demand, can understand that?

I’m sure there is something on Netflix we can watch.

Over at the Irish Times in 2025 Mark Paul had an extremely interesting piece on the Last of the Irish Lords. These were Lords who had links to the Republic.

He spoke to Patrick Stopford, 9th Earl of Courtown. “Known in Westminster as Patrick Courtown, he is the Conservative Party’s deputy chief whip in the Lords and a 45-year veteran of the British parliament. He is also one of 92 hereditary peers whose seats will soon be abolished under legislation the UK’s Labour government has pledged to ram through.”

“The record shows I’ve devoted over half a lifetime to this house,” says the genial Courtown (70), who inherited his seat from his father along with his title, derived from lands his family owned in Wexford. It will be an “emotional wrench” to leave the Lords, he says. Courtown, London-born but with an easy Hibernian manner, revels in the political nitty-gritty of lawmaking. He shall miss it.”

“As well as being among the 92 peers heading for the exit, Courtown is also part of an even smaller group in the Lords whose stories are nearing denouement: the handful of hereditary peers with titles from the Republic – his family owned Marlfield House near Gorey, where he spent summers. It is now a hotel; Courtown sold it in the 1970s.”

Another link between Ireland and Westminster smashed by Starmer. He really is a cretin.

Lords Speaker breaks with convention to praise outgoing hereditary peers

Last 88 lose their seats and voting rights this week, ending almost 1,000 years of history

NICK GUTTERIDGE

Hereditary peers have been praised for bringing an “independence of mind” to the House of Lords, before being abolished by Sir Keir Starmer this week.

Lord Forsyth, the upper chamber’s Speaker, said peers who had inherited their titles had shown a willingness to act with “conscience rather than convenience”.

He made his remarks at a reception in Parliament on Monday night to mark the end of hereditary peerages after almost 1,000 years. The comments will be seen as an implicit criticism of the Prime Minister’s decision to remove the last 88 hereditary peers from the Lords chamber.

Sir Keir has been accused of playing “crude politics” over the move, which will strip other parties of seats but leave Labour largely unaffected.

‘Distinctive qualities to this House’

Lord Forsyth said: “Hereditary peers have brought distinctive qualities to this House – an ethos of service, a long view and, not least, independence of mind. They have often shown a willingness to speak plainly, to resist passing fashions, and to act according to conscience rather than convenience.

“But the contribution of hereditaries has not all been about high politics – what is best in the tradition is the sense of obligation and stewardship and the understanding that privilege brings duties.”

All hereditary peers will lose their seats and voting rights on the final day of this parliamentary session, which is expected to be Wednesday.

Labour pledged to abolish hereditary peerages in its manifesto, describing the principle of inherited places in the Lords as indefensible.

The vast majority of the 833 current members of the House of Lords are life peers, meaning they were granted their seat in the chamber by politicians.

In contrast, hereditary peers inherited their titles and place in the Lords from their parents. Some are expected to return to the chamber as life peers.

[…]

Of the 88 remaining hereditary peers, only four are Labour. By contrast, 39 sit with the Tories and 29 are crossbenchers, meaning they have no party affiliation.

There are also 26 bishops and archbishops in the Lords, known as the Lords Spiritual, who will be unaffected by the changes.

[…]

Sir Tony Blair removed most of the hereditary peers in 1999, lowering their number from about 750 to just 92. Members of the Lords voted to decide who stayed. After that, when a hereditary peer died or retired, a by-election was held to replace them.

The Telegraph: continue reading

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