The Bishop
Labour
Down With Factionalism!
Posts: 26,751
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Post by The Bishop on May 31, 2020 10:38:31 GMT
And of course he died just days later anyway.
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finsobruce
Labour
Five people have watched this in the last hour.
Posts: 31,169 
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Post by finsobruce on May 31, 2020 11:37:17 GMT
And of course he died just days later anyway. iirc "This House" was in part developed from a radio play James Graham wrote called "How you feeling Alf?" |
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Post by tonygreaves on May 31, 2020 20:17:07 GMT
Lord Woolmer, a Labour life peer since 1999 and former MP for Batley and Morley ('79-'83), has retired. Former leader of West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council, if I remember correctly. Title name - Lord Woolmer of Leeds. |
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Post by timmullen1 on Jun 3, 2020 18:35:45 GMT
Lord Rea, a Labour hereditary, died on 1 June aged 91, and Lord Cope of Berkeley (Conservative) has retired from the House.
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Post by David Boothroyd on Jun 3, 2020 18:38:18 GMT
Lord Rea was the Peer who memorably opposed Section 28 by telling the House how he was brought up by his lesbian mother and her partner.
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Post by curiousliberal on Jun 3, 2020 18:41:10 GMT
Baroness Howe of Idlicote, a crossbench peer since 2001, has resigned.
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Post by timmullen1 on Jun 3, 2020 19:02:27 GMT
Lord Rea was the Peer who memorably opposed Section 28 by telling the House how he was brought up by his lesbian mother and her partner. If there’s a by-election amongst Labour hereditaries could we see the return of Viscount Stansgate? |
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Chris from Brum
Lib Dem
What I need is a strong drink and a peer group" - Douglas Adams
Posts: 4,980
Member is Online
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Post by Chris from Brum on Jun 3, 2020 19:09:30 GMT
Lord Rea was the Peer who memorably opposed Section 28 by telling the House how he was brought up by his lesbian mother and her partner. If there’s a by-election amongst Labour hereditaries could we see the return of Viscount Stansgate? Does Stephen Wedgwood Benn even want to stand? |
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Post by timmullen1 on Jun 3, 2020 19:12:52 GMT
If there’s a by-election amongst Labour hereditaries could we see the return of Viscount Stansgate? Does Stephen Wedgwood Benn even want to stand? I’m 99.9% sure he put his name on the Register of Peers wishing to stand when he inherited the title, which technically remained with Tony, but whether it remains there I can’t find; I’m sure the Register used to be on the HoL website, but they’ve had a horrible redesign and I can’t find it at the moment (the Register not the website obviously). EDIT: And then I immediately find it, and indeed Viscount Stansgate is on the list published in February this year. |
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Chris from Brum
Lib Dem
What I need is a strong drink and a peer group" - Douglas Adams
Posts: 4,980
Member is Online
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Post by Chris from Brum on Jun 3, 2020 19:15:11 GMT
Does Stephen Wedgwood Benn even want to stand? I’m 99.9% sure he put his name on the Register of Peers wishing to stand when he inherited the title, which technically remained with Tony, but whether it remains there I can’t find; I’m sure the Register used to be on the HoL website, but they’ve had a horrible redesign and I can’t find it at the moment (the Register not the website obviously). Well ok, but he seems to have a busy professional life outside parliamentary politics, so I'm sure he could be forgiven for passing up the opportunity. His call, however. |
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Post by timmullen1 on Jun 3, 2020 19:15:43 GMT
I’m 99.9% sure he put his name on the Register of Peers wishing to stand when he inherited the title, which technically remained with Tony, but whether it remains there I can’t find; I’m sure the Register used to be on the HoL website, but they’ve had a horrible redesign and I can’t find it at the moment (the Register not the website obviously). Well ok, but he seems to have a busy professional life outside parliamentary politics, so I'm sure he could be forgiven for passing up the opportunity. His call, however. See edit to my previous post. |
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Post by tonygreaves on Jun 3, 2020 19:39:52 GMT
Nicholas Rea was a good man, a doctor and not a natural politician, but he made a very positive contribution to the House without playing a leading political role. He inherited his title from his uncle (the second Baron Rea and son of a leading Liberal politician) who had been Leader of the Liberals in the Lords from the mid-50s to 1967, and was a prominent senior figure in the party in my early days. He was one of the two peers elected by the Labour hereditaries in 1999. There will now be a by-election in the Labour constituency which now consists of three members. What excitement! (The last by-election for a Labour hered saw Lord Grantchester win by two votes to one).
Baroness Howe of Idlicote is Elspeth Howe, Geoffrey Howe's wife, who sat on the crossbenches and was a quite prominent and forthright (and quite liberal) voice in the House. She will be missed. I think we are going to lose quite a few good older members around the House if the present unsatisfactory ways of working go on for a while.
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Post by David Boothroyd on Jun 3, 2020 21:54:10 GMT
I wonder if Gerry Monkswell will have another go at the Labour spot. I sometimes used to sit next to him at GC meetings.
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neilm
Non-Aligned
Posts: 17,712
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Post by neilm on Jun 4, 2020 3:35:39 GMT
I wonder if Gerry Monkswell will have another go at the Labour spot. I sometimes used to sit next to him at GC meetings. I thought he'd lived in Manchester for ages, how come you were on the same GC as him? |
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Post by David Boothroyd on Jun 4, 2020 9:58:19 GMT
I wonder if Gerry Monkswell will have another go at the Labour spot. I sometimes used to sit next to him at GC meetings. I thought he'd lived in Manchester for ages, how come you were on the same GC as him? When he was in the House of Lords he lived in Pimlico. Think he still had a home in south Manchester but his Labour Party membership was in London. His problem was that, unlike most Peers who only speak on issues they have professional involvement in, Gerry tended to speak in all sorts of debates about anything that was on his mind. Meant he was one of the most active peers but not popular with the others. |
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Post by tonygreaves on Jun 4, 2020 15:01:15 GMT
I think he is now 70 which is the average age of members of the Lords! (the mean - the median must be slightly older). Since 70+ year olds are at present discouraged from turning up, there may be pressure to get someone younger in. No doubt the Labour whips will be twisting a (very) few arms!
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Post by tonygreaves on Jun 5, 2020 14:34:31 GMT
The average age of the Lords has hardly changed in the 20 years I have been a member. For a long time it was stated to be 69. Now it's stated to be 70. When retirements came in about five years ago we thought it would go down, but it seems not so (in spite of the spate of new Tory peers in recent years).
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finsobruce
Labour
Five people have watched this in the last hour.
Posts: 31,169
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Post by finsobruce on Jun 5, 2020 14:44:24 GMT
The average age of the Lords has hardly changed in the 20 years I have been a member. For a long time it was stated to be 69. Now it's stated to be 70. When retirements came in about five years ago we thought it would go down, but it seems not so (in spite of the spate of new Tory peers in recent years). Presumably because most people nominated would not want to give up their current job etc, until they are retired or semi-retired. The same thing that applies to local councillors, regardless of whether you pay them or not, even without the risk of being voted out via the ballot box. |
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Post by curiousliberal on Jun 13, 2020 18:26:48 GMT
Lord Malloch-Brown, a crossbench peer and former (Labour) minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, has taken leave of absence.
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Post by David Boothroyd on Jun 18, 2020 23:17:35 GMT
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