If proof were ever needed of the utter political bankruptcy of the current system of appointing new members to the House of Lords, then this BBC report is it:

Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson nominated as ‘people’s peer’

Paralympic gold medalist Tanni Grey-Thompson is set to become a “people’s peer” after a recommendation from the House of Lords Appointments Commission.

We can skip the next couple of paragraphs, which are just the usual puff about Grey-Thompson’s personal achievments, and move straight on to the punchline:

She will be one of four new non-party-political peers recommended to the Prime Minister by the commission.

The others are Design Council chair and former Whitehall mandarin Sir Michael Bichard, Royal Opera House chief executive and former BBC journalist Tony Hall, and eminent surgeon Professor Ajay Kakkar.

So, our other three ‘people’s peers’ are:-

- A career civil servant and Companion of the Order of the Bath.

- The Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House who’s role and achievements at the BBC are being woefully underplayed to give him a bit of the common touch.

Hall was not just a BBC journalist. He’s a former editor of the Nine O’Clock News, Director of News and Current Affairs Television, Director of News and, in 1999, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the job of Director General. Not uncoincidentally, the achievements section of his CV includes both the launch of Radio 5 Live and, somewhat more relevantly, the launch of BBC Parliament.

As for Professor Ajay Kakkar, my first reaction was ‘who?’, but on looking him up, he’s:-

Professor and Chairman of the Centre for Surgical Sciences at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary College University of London. Surgeon St Bartholomews Hospital and The Royal London Hospital and Director-Designate Thrombosis Research Institute, London, UK.

Its an impressive looking CV and it appears to come (although its not mentioned) with the obligatory Harley Street practice.

In all, this sheds a bit of interesting light on the appointments process undertaken by the House of Lord Appointments Commission.

On this evidence that appears one of picking a name that people will have heard of, for the sake of a nice headline, and then shoving three other well-stuffed members of the establishment in the behind in the hope that no one will notice just how obvious a piece of utter bullshit this whole ‘people’s peers’ business has been from start to finish.

Reader comments

1. Liberal Conspiracy

   People's Peers? You've got to be kidding! http://bit.ly/cqR7bz

2. Unity

   RT @libcon: People's Peers? You've got to be kidding! http://bit.ly/cqR7bz – Another of Blair's wizard wheezes proves to be a total crock

3. Chris Paul

   RT @Unity_MoT: RT @libcon: People's Peers? You've got to be kidding! http://bit.ly/cqR7bz – Another of Blair's wizard wheezes proves to …

4. Andrew Roche

   People’s Peers? You’ve got to be kidding! http://ff.im/-fsnMp

5. andrew

   Liberal Conspiracy » People's Peers? You've got to be kidding!: Liberal Conspiracy. People's Peers? You've got to … http://bit.ly/dABRFk

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