Labour must be clear: Britain’s corrupted House of Cronies needs an overhaul

“Boris Johnson has quietly shelved plans to create up to 20 new Tory peers including a string of party donors until after the coronavirus crisis has passed,” The Times reported in May. Well, so much for that.

News that Boris Johnson has packed the Lords with 36 new legislators-for-life has sparked outrage. It turns out that Prime Ministers just can’t help themselves when looking at the unlimited pool of patronage offered by the second chamber. Just this week, the PM’s spokesman told reporters that the size of the House of Lords “needs addressing”… right after stuffing the House with his friends, family and allies.

Let’s be honest. The existence of the Lords is a corrupting influence on British political life. Research by the FT found that at least 22 wealthy party donors have been given jobs for life in the House of Lords over the past 13 years.

While Tory donors made up the largest group, few parties are immune. The SNP refuse to appoint peers to the chamber, while the Greens hold internal elections to determine the party’s picks. But other parties’ appointments are rightly held up as an object of suspicion, with allegations of cash or political favours for peerages lurking close to the truth.

Now it is turning the ‘Mother of Parliaments’ into a laughing stock. It didn’t take much searching to spot stories from across the world looking aghast at the normalised corruption that the second chamber represents.

Agenzia Italia: “Boris Johnson has appointed his brother [as] a Lord, and the son of a former KGB [agent]… The 36 new investitures include many loyalists and expand the already abnormal number of members of the Upper House, who sometimes do not even go there.”

Blisty (Czechia): “Corruption in England deepens: Johnson promoted his brother… and [the] son of KGB agent to aristocratic status… [There were] waves of fury over the announcement of how many incredibly controversial people Johnson has decided to elevate to a noble status”

Standaard (Belgium): “Friendship leads to a seat in parliament: Newspaper owner Evgeny Lebedev’s seat in the House of Lords is the culmination of a mutually beneficial friendship with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson”

There are countless other examples, which shows that we are undermining our ability to speak up about democracy across the world. This matters for Labour. No PM appointing peers can be immune to allegations of cronyism: it is the fully-appointed nature that shreds trust in politics and jettisons democratic principle.

Labour’s 2019 manifesto pledged to “act immediately to end the hereditary principle in the House of Lords, and work to abolish the House of Lords in favour of Labour’s preferred option of an elected Senate”. Keir Starmer should go further, setting out a principle and a clear plan to replace the House with a proportionally-elected chamber representing the nations and regions of the UK. Without a firm commitment, Labour could all too easily fall into the trap of putting off change – and keep stuffing it with allies.

While scrapping hereditary peers is a must, with the descendants of slave traders effectively guaranteed places in our parliament, it cannot be a cop-out for tackling the real problems. Just look at Tony Blair’s ‘Stage 1’ reforms – getting rid of most of the hereditaries – which was followed by no further action.

Labour’s recent consultation on federalism was awash with calls for an overhauled, PR-elected second chamber to form the basis of a new constitutional settlement that Britain needs. It’s time to seize the mantle of a new Chartism for the 21st century. 

This isn’t just about values, although they are central to this conversation. Lords reform is also one of those rare issues that unites left and right, according to YouGov analysis. Rage erupted not just from the Mirror and Guardian, but from the Express and the Daily Star. And over 360,000 people have signed the Change.org petition calling for real reform – doubling in size in just a few days.

A vision to transform society, deepen democracy and give our communities real power must have political reform at its heart. It starts with overhauling Westminster’s corrupted private member’s club.