Now there's a break with tradition. Never let it be said that the UK is so steeped in the past that it won't try something new.
There is, it appears, due to the sad death of Lord Reay (pronounced Ray) the Caithness peer and head of the Clan Mackay, a vacancy in that most august of chambers, the House of Lords. Reay was a Conservative peer, elected to be one of the 92 proper aristocrats allowed to stay in the House after Tony Blair's half arsed, unfinished reforms of 1999.
According to the law, upon the death of one of their number, the remaining 91 vote to elect a successor from the hereditaries who are now unrepresented in the House, having been replaced by political placemen.
Unfortunately then, neither you nor I can take part in this election for someone who will take a seat in our parliament....
Often these peers are little known nonentities and their deaths and the subsequent election of a replacement recipient of the taxpayers' largess that accompanies these posts, goes pretty much unnoticed by the public at large.
The only reason this particular election came to my attention was that one of the frontrunners for the £300 a day tax free perk, is the Noble Viscount Hailsham, appropriately otherwise named Douglas Hogg. I say appropriately named, because when our Douglas was a mere MP he had his snout well and truly in the trough.
He was the fellow who thought it reasonable for us to clean his castle moat...the cleanliness of the aforementioned waterway being essential, apparently, to his carrying out his parliamentary duties as per the rules. (Well, I mean, a chap can hardly be expected to keep his mind on affairs of state if his moat is clamming like a council estate drain, can he?)
There is a tradition (how quickly the Brits establish "tradition") that only peers belonging to the same party as the deceased nobleman should stand for election. However, in a daring break with this tradition of at least 13 years, Liberal Democrat peers in need to £300 a day are standing too. They are joined by a crossbencher or two and a Ukipper who goes by the name of John David Clotworthy Whyte-Melville Foster Skeffington, 14th Viscount Massereene and 7th Viscount Ferrard. Yes, Clotworthy...you couldn't make it up, could you? Full list of hopefuls here just for a laugh.
It is thought, however, that these upstarts will be ignored by their peers and either Lord Hail(No)Shame or another Tory, this time a mere baron (and a man who made his money in custard...trade), Lord Borwick, will be elected.
The Hogg had his snout removed from the trough after the scandal of his expenses, and paid back over £2,000 to the taxpayer. He decided (or was advised) not to stand with an electorate of ordinary people who don't have moats and wouldn't understand how important, nay essential, it is to keep them clean.
He is reckoned to have more of a chance among people of his own kind, who doubtless have a better understanding of the expenses involved in being a toff, although this will be his third attempt to get into the
old boys' retirement home.
Strangely this appointment was not approved. (Maybe the Queen doesn't like him, or maybe the sneaky Cameron went back on his word.) He also stood in an election following the death of Earl Ferres and was unsuccessful. Wasn't that a shame.
Still, Buggins turn, don't ya know!
I wonder how many days he will have to attend before he can get the peasant from the village with his fishing nets to come and get rid of the slime.
The whole UK system makes me sick.
ReplyDeleteRoll on 2014 so we can leave the rotten, corrupt mess behind.
Me too. Can't wait to be shot of this vile lot of self servers. I'm not suggesting that the Scots are in some way superior to that. It's just that in a small country is is much easier to control.
DeleteWFF were they thinking when they gave the bugger any peerage far less a hereditary one!! Juteman is right - sooner this farce is consigned to Scotland's waste bin the better. Let EWNI tug their forelocks if they want to (I suspect they don't though!)
ReplyDeleteFrom Wiki:
DeleteDouglas Hogg is the son of Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone, a former Lord Chancellor. He inherited the Viscountcy on 12 October 2001 upon the death of his father who had disclaimed that title for life in 1963, but who later accepted a life peerage in 1970; he is the grandson of Douglas Hogg, 1st Viscount Hailsham, also a former Lord Chancellor.
He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated with a degree in History in 1968. In 1967, he served as the President of the Oxford Union. He was called to the Bar in 1968, after which he worked as a barrister. He became a Queen's Counsel in 1990, a year after his sister, Dame Mary Hogg, who is now a judge in the Family Division of the High Court.
It seems that the family are the hereditary lord chancellors. It's just a sickening farce of privilege begetting privilege.
Thanks for that Tris. I had it in my pretty (debatable!) little head that Downton Dave had given him a hereditary peerage - I should have knowm not even he would be that stupid.
DeleteThe last person to hand out an hereditary honour was Mrs Thatcher. She made her husband a baronet for being her husband. (Frankly I'd have expected a great deal more than that!)
DeleteIt had the advantage of ensuring that her appalling brat of a son, who is persona non grata in half the countries in the world, and has only ever been good at things that Plod disapproves of (or would if her wasn't who he is) would get some sort of title.
Apparently these people think it's only right that they should have titles. Such are their lives.
Tris
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with Juteman, this whole country is a sham. It amazes me when I still hear people saying they will vote no in a country that is so unfair and tailored to privilege and status. We have all this ability and natural resources and all we need to do is reach out and take it. What a country.
Bruce
The used to say Bruce... 'come the revolution'. I prefer 'come the referendum'... and we will be shot of all this bowing a scraping to the higher class thieves.
DeleteIt's a horrible country that has some of the world's richest people, tax dodging only a mile or so from people living in cardboard boxes and queuing at soup kitchens adn food banks.
And with a Labour party that agrees with all the Tories do... pffffff
No wonder people laugh at us!
I thought you might like the following information from his Wiki page:
ReplyDeleteExpenses[edit]
Main articles: United Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal and List of expenses claims in the United Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal.
Even though he had been claiming near maximum Additional Costs Allowance in the 2001 and 2005 UK Parliaments, Douglas Hogg's total running costs as an MP (including allowances, expenses and staff costs) were consistently very much lower than most MPs.[3]
In 2009, during the row over MPs' expenses, The Daily Telegraph alleged that Hogg had submitted and was paid a claim form including more than £2,000 for the moat around his country estate, Kettleburgh Hall,[4] to be cleared.[5] The taxpayer helped meet the cost of a full-time housekeeper. Other allegations included expenses for work done to Hogg’s stables and for his piano to be tuned.[6] It is claimed that the bills for Kettlethorpe Hall were so large, Hogg eventually agreed a deal with the expenses office simply to have one twelfth of the second homes allowance paid into his bank account every month.[4] In his defence, Hogg resolutely claimed he had not claimed for moat cleaning, and that the items were a list of all expenses incurred during house works, most of which were not paid for by the taxpayer. Hogg responded to the newspaper's claims by saying he had agreed the claims with the fees office, and therefore hoped and believed that they would comply with the rules and the 'spirit' of the rules.[7] In saying that his claims complied with both the spirit and letter of the rules,[8] Hogg said he had issued, in the interests of transparency, full lists of all his expenditure on the property but these were never meant to be the record of a claim.[9] On 14 May, Hogg agreed to repay the £2,200 cost of clearing the moat, after an order from the party leadership. He maintained he had not claimed the money but agreed it had not been "positively excluded" from paperwork submitted to the Commons fees office.[10]
Following the scandal, Hogg announced on 19 May 2009 that he would not stand at the next general election.[11] Prime Minister David Cameron put Hogg's name forward for a life barony to be included in the 2011 New Year Honours, but House of Lords Appointments Commission advised against the appointment.[12] In 2013, Hogg stood for election to the House of Lords seat made vacant by the death of Earl Ferrers, losing to Viscount Ridley.[13]
Personal life[edit]
He married Sarah, daughter of John Boyd-Carpenter, on 6 June 1968 in Westminster and they have a son (born October 1973) and a daughter (born August 1970). As his wife was created a life peeress, the Hailshams are one of the few couples to both hold noble titles in their own right.
Their daughter Charlotte, who was previously in charge of retail operations at Santander UK, has been appointed, with effect from 1 July 2013, as the first-ever Chief Operating Officer at the Bank of England, under new Governor Mark Carney.
tris
ReplyDeleteYeah that twat Martin Kettle said in the guardian
'Scottish Labour politics were never exactly a byword for Athenian democracy.'
Yeah well given Athenian democracy is much loved by middle class tossers
perhaps they should consider.
Athens was a slave owning city state and only citizens were able to
take part in the so called Democracy.
they also castrated all male slaves
Athenians encouraged pederasty with young boys yeah well not good.
and as they have found 160 pottery pieces for voting to
ostracise Themistocles, all written by just 14 people
an example of vote rigging new labour would be proud of.
Let alone the status or not of woman in the great Athenian Democracy.
But then again you can see why rich white male middle class tory voting scum
and their like minded friends hold Athenian Democracy as a guiding light in
the wonder of Democracy.
Indeed I can, Niko. That was an adroit analysis, up to your usual standard.
DeleteThey do write some trash don't they?
Yet more proof the British Establishment is outdated, out of touch and (not unlike a blocked toilet) out of order.
ReplyDeleteGreat post too, 'clamming like a council estate drain' great metaphor and not just for the posh git's moat either - it can easily be applied to the entire creaking edifice that is Westminster.
It's just such a joke, Pa.
DeleteAnd somehow they expect to be taken seriously in the 21st century with a house of chiefs!
I rather liked that metaphor myself. I was trying to think of something that Hoggie the Hog would never have smelled in his entire life, and a drain that they have not got round to repairing, for lack of money, seemed just the ticket.
and just in order to keep your flabber at full gast
ReplyDeletehttp://www.chinchinjobs.com/News/Article/the-wine-flows-at-westminster-3970
Westminster raised it's consumption of subsidised wine by 20% last year.
Subsidised by whom?
Jeeeez. Now we know why they make a complete dog's breakfast of running the country. They drink 45,000 bottles of wine, get pissed and make decisions. It certainly explains the dubious quality of more or less everything they do.
ReplyDeleteBlaming the extra consumption on the queen's jubilee was cute. I note that I didn't get as much as a sniff of a glass of water out of it...nor did I out of their Olympics.
I wonder if Wee Willie Hague's foreign office will be providing drinks for the Commonwealth Games.
Thought not.
Oh, the benefits of being in this union are enormous.
Yes but 44,950 are drunk by Lord foulkes, just before he logs on to his Twitter account, to share his latest
Delete'Words of Wisdom'
LOL LOL LOL... It does sound like that, doesn't it. :)
DeleteUK:
ReplyDelete1. Unelected Head of State
2. Unelected Upper Chamber
3. Established Official Church
4. Unelected Bishops in Lords
5. 2/3 of Commons seats 'safe' - thus effectively not up for election under current system
6. Royal Prerogative
7. Select Committees don't have legal authority like Senate committee equivalents in USA.
8. 2005, 2010 both saw the 'government' (major party in case of 2010) elected on just 36% of the vote
Democracy? Who are we kidding, Mubarak was more democratic than this!
UK:
ReplyDelete1. Unelected Head of State
2. Unelected Upper Chamber
3. Established Official Church
4. Unelected Bishops in Lords
5. 2/3 of Commons seats 'safe' - thus effectively not up for election under current system
6. Royal Prerogative
7. Select Committees don't have legal authority like Senate committee equivalents in USA.
8. 2005, 2010 both saw the 'government' (major party in case of 2010) elected on just 36% of the vote
9. 92 hereditary Peers in legislature...
Democracy? Who are we kidding?!
Yes, afraid so, Dean.
DeleteThe irony is that we go around the world telling everyone (except those that we want to do arms business with...eg Middle Eastern royal regimes; Ex-Soviet Republics)that they should sign up to democracy...often with disastrous results (Iraq, Arab Spring countries), and we must be the least democratic state in the European Union).
As you point out, not only can you be elected on 36% of the vote; you can have a massive, opposition beating majority.
And I'd add that the prime minister is, or can be, under our system, pretty much a dictator. After all, (s)he appoints ministers,at all levels from his/her MPs; then these MPs are whipped to vote with the party line; those who fail to do so on anything like a regular basis can forget any furtherment, not just to paid ministerial roles, but to important committee positions which are recommended by the PM's whips.
And (nationalist that I am) I'd add that the current governing party in Westminster contains 12 out of 59 MPs...20%, which means that 80% of the people we voted for are opposition (Labour or SNP)... and that further, this is more or less a Tory government. The Liberals tried one or two things to begin with and were knocked on the head. We are now following Tory policies. We elected 1 Tory out of 59 seats.
Even if that were not the case, we still only have 59 votes in parliament out of 650. We are about as important in normal events as the Liberals...ie NOT.
:)
Democracy? Who are we kidding?!
DeleteMost MPs and all of the biased media as they are the only ones who benefit from a continuation of the charade.
No CH... they all know it's a game. It's all about who can get furthest up the greasy pole, make as much money, get themselves in the history book and become a pretend wee aristocrat and meet the Queen.
DeleteThey are like children playing games while people starve or freeze to death or are invaded or bombed by our bombs from our planes sold to undemocratic regimes.