But don\’t let\’s kid ourselves. It wasn\’t Davis or a few thousand East Riding voters who delivered the most important blow to the government\’s plans this week. It was Lady Manningham-Buller, the former head of MI5, in her devastatingly succinct maiden speech in the House of Lords. When the recently retired head of the security services declared that the 42-day power is not justified on grounds of either practicality or principle, the plans were holed below the water line.
Are we sure we want to? To replace the experienced and independent with more party lobby fodder?
It was always apparent to me that the idea of stuffing the Lords with elected peers was a dangerous one, and Labour’s attempt to stop the one part of British politics that still had any integrity.
I’m going anyway, but if they persist in screwing with the Lords, it will just hasten my departure.