House of Lords: an ignoble history
An entirely elected House of Lords? Oliver Cromwell's boys would have heartily approved. Almost exactly 358 years ago, in March 1649, a Cromwell-dominated House of Commons voted to abolish the Lords altogether. "The House of Lords is useless and dangerous to the people of England," MPs declared. A week later Charles I was executed.
It was not the first row and it won't be the last. From intrigue and conspiracy to sleaze, cronies and cash for peerages, over the course of nearly a thousand years, the House of Lords has seen it all. Lesbians have abseiled joyfully into the chamber. Lord Lucan has disappeared. The seventh Earl of Cardigan abandoned the niceties of gentlemanly debate to lead the Charge of the Light Brigade.
When my Lords Spiritual (the religious lot) and my Lords Temporal (the others) sink into the soft, upholstered, red leather of their grandiose chamber, they can look back to nearly 1,000 of a history which is, in every sense of the word, rich.
Today, most of the Lords and Ladies who sit each afternoon in the chamber are members of the great and the good, former public servants, lawyers, judges, bishops and business figures or former MPs appointed for life for their long public or political service. But throughout history membership has been conferred for political services rendered to monarchs through the ages, or even sold for hard cash...
Read entire article at Independent
It was not the first row and it won't be the last. From intrigue and conspiracy to sleaze, cronies and cash for peerages, over the course of nearly a thousand years, the House of Lords has seen it all. Lesbians have abseiled joyfully into the chamber. Lord Lucan has disappeared. The seventh Earl of Cardigan abandoned the niceties of gentlemanly debate to lead the Charge of the Light Brigade.
When my Lords Spiritual (the religious lot) and my Lords Temporal (the others) sink into the soft, upholstered, red leather of their grandiose chamber, they can look back to nearly 1,000 of a history which is, in every sense of the word, rich.
Today, most of the Lords and Ladies who sit each afternoon in the chamber are members of the great and the good, former public servants, lawyers, judges, bishops and business figures or former MPs appointed for life for their long public or political service. But throughout history membership has been conferred for political services rendered to monarchs through the ages, or even sold for hard cash...