People’s Peers? You’ve got to be kidding!
3:45 pm - February 5th 2010
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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.
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'Unity' is a regular contributor to Liberal Conspiracy. He also blogs at Ministry of Truth.
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Story Filed Under: News ,Our democracy ,Westminster
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Reader comments
Shameful
I had hoped that this would have been sorted in about 1998.
At least the political parties tend to nominate people using an obvious bias…
The establishment however tend to take less obvious routes.
She will be one of four new non-party-political peers recommended to the Prime Minister by the commission.
This is the Tanni Grey-Thompson who is a member of the Labour party, and appears at Labour fund-raisers? Seems a strange definition of non-party-political.
“shoving three other well-stuffed members of the establishment in the behind”
What a novel method for reforming the Upper House!
Really a democratic lords needs to be the overriding priority now. It’s beyond a joke.
Which organisation, if any, campaigns for a democratic lords as the number one priority? I would like to join.
@5
You could try Republic …
Cheers, I’ll send an email. After today and this bizarre fixation on AV, recall, direct democracy, localisation, etc, etc, it’s easy to forget that 8-900 lords a leaping aren’t elected at all. They’re even there for life.
A joke.
Sortition, that’s what we need. A random lottery.
Similar point made here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/uk_politics/2001/open_politics/lords/peoples_peers.stm
“Head teachers, police officers, nurses and community leaders were all mentioned as suitable candidates.”
And yet the list at the end of the page shows that the peers are all chief execs, vice chancellors, chairpersons and other top brass.
I can’t see a way to stop them doing this.
No, I like the idea of appointments. I’m sure I could spare a few hours a week given the right incentives.
Not having to go through troublesome elections and public scrutiny is a minor detail, though perhaps it makes the idea more attractive. Care to join me?
Tony Hall appeared on Question Time a while back and his answers confirmed that he was a Left Establishment type too.
At least the Lord Levy cohort paid a fair price for their honours, though a number of ’em appear to have recouped their investment through the expenses racket.
This defies belief, although with expenses and parliamentary privilege, nothing is ever surprising any more.
“Head teachers, police officers, nurses and community leaders were all mentioned as suitable candidates.”
And yet the list at the end of the page shows that the peers are all chief execs, vice chancellors, chairpersons and other top brass.
I can’t see a way to stop them doing this.”
Hurting head in shaking hands. Any trust I had left in this parliamentary democracy has been extinguished this week. Left-wing anarchy anyone 🙂
So they’ve chosen “Elite” Peoples Peers. Middle class shafted again, working class not even a mention. Ah, what we could do with a few cabbies in there…..
Reactions: Twitter, blogs
- Liberal Conspiracy
People's Peers? You've got to be kidding! http://bit.ly/cqR7bz
- 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
- 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 …
- Andrew Roche
People’s Peers? You’ve got to be kidding! http://ff.im/-fsnMp
- andrew
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