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Honours System (Reform)

: I understand. This matter is not sub judice. There are no charges; I will make that absolutely clear. I think that I said Mr. Smith was arrested. If I said that he was charged, I withdraw that, because it is not the case. I asked the Prime Minister why so many people outside the House believe that it is possible to get an honour for sponsoring a city academy. Then I asked whether that was because six people have been honoured already. The Prime Minister, instead of replying to the question, said that I should visit a city academy and see the good things that happen in city academies. We know from The Observer on 16 April that a direct link is now admitted between the sponsoring of city academies and the awarding of a peerage. That admission has not been contradicted or withdrawn by No. 10 and there has been no clarification, so as far as I am concerned, until I hear to the contrary it stands. The headline is ““No 10 admits link between school donors and peerages””. The strapline underneath is ““Blair wanted greater political support in House of Lords for his controversial education policy””. The article quotes an unnamed senior Downing street source:"““What we wanted was people with expertise in academies as working peers, taking the Labour whip, who could actively contribute with a massive amount of knowledge to the debate on education in the House of Lords.””" It is not right that people should be ennobled because they support a particular policy objective of the Government of the day. That is separate from supporting a wider public good. The mere fact that someone supports a city academy is not sufficient reason to put them in the House of Lords so that they can argue the case in the House of Lords as to why city academies are a good thing. When I was reflecting on that, I thought, ““If the new Blair doctrine stands, what happens when there is a change of Government?”” I know that it is not Conservative party policy at the moment, but let us imagine that a future Conservative Government wanted to encourage the growth in grammar schools and were looking for wealthy people to endow new grammar schools. Let us imagine that that Conservative Government made it clear that people endowing new grammar schools would be in line for an honour. There would be uproar among Labour Members. What about the private sector moving into the NHS? The Government have a policy objective that up to 15 per cent. of the NHS should be handed over to the private sector for delivery. Would it be right for honours to be awarded in those circumstances? I do not think so. There are questions to be asked and answers to be given. I do not want people dancing around the issue as though it does not matter; they should be clear and up front about all these things. I want to finish on a point that takes me back to what my Friend the Member for Cannock Chase said; it is in the report as well. We need to separate out the awarding of honours from membership of the legislature. It is corrupt—again, with a small c—that people can end up here, legislating for the nation, making the laws of the nation, because they have been elevated as a result of being regarded as people who deserve an honour. That is one reason why I am very much in favour of a small, directly elected House of Lords. That was not the position of the Select Committee. I changed my position in order that consensus could be achieved on the Committee, but I believe that an elected House of Lords is the direction of travel. As a result of all the controversy and everything that is now spilling out, we are on track for an elected House of Lords. The last time we debated the issue, the Prime Minister famously torpedoed the Leader of the House, the late Robin Cook, by saying, in the week of the vote, that he was in favour of an appointed House of Lords and against an elected House of Lords. He has now changed his position. The report is good and well worth reading. It took us a long time to put it together but, two years later, the recommendations are still ones that the Government should follow.