Is thwarting the will of the Lords really “unconstitutional”?

The Times poll today showing that the majority of peers are not only opposed to Lords reform but feel it would be “unconstitutional” to proceed without their blessing begs an important question: in a country without a codified constitution, what on earth is “constitutional” anyway? Where the peers may have a point is that when… Continue reading Is thwarting the will of the Lords really “unconstitutional”?

The House of Canards (Comment is Free)

Busy, busy, busy… but I did find the time to write a piece on Lords reform over on Comment is Free last night. I had originally written a totally different article, but in researching it I got increasingly annoyed by the same old canards against elections coming up again and again. Get with the program… Continue reading The House of Canards (Comment is Free)

Internal party democracy – Tory style

If you can ignore the fact that the Conservative policy is for the House of Lords to be elected using the first past the post system, which is itself a closed list system, you could be forgiven for thinking they had quite a principled take in the Lords reform debate a few weeks ago. To… Continue reading Internal party democracy – Tory style