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Democracy: POWER Inquiry

My Lords, for well-publicised reasons my intake has endured a long wait for our peerages to be conferred. We endeavoured to monitor progress through snippets in the media. I learnt that inquiries had been made about all of us—the noble Lord, Lord Taylor, included, no doubt—to the Inland Revenue, the Serious Fraud Office, MI5 and, somewhat bizarrely, the Department of Health. I had no qualms about the first three, but was not sure I would survive the health test. I can only assume that I passed it, as my noble friend Lord Dholakia, a member of the Appointments Commission, generously, and without regard to his own safety, stood close to me during Monday’s introduction as one of my supporters. I commend the work of the Appointments Commission, and believe it should have statutory powers. No sooner had I got here than I picked up serious talk of reforming the composition of your Lordships’ House. I therefore resolved to make my maiden speech as soon as possible, before risking being placed on the transfer list on the ““last in, first out”” principle. My concern about such an early maiden was not just about finding the appropriate words and terminology, but indeed about finding the Chamber itself. Thankfully, colleagues and attendants kindly guided me here safely today. Indeed, ““kindness”” is the word that has dominated my week. I have had extraordinary kindnesses from noble Lords on all sides of the House and all the staff here in the Upper Chamber. I have taken the title of Trafford from the borough in Greater Manchester where I have lived for most of my life, where my late father was a general practitioner, and where in the Trafford town hall I was installed a few years as High Sheriff of Greater Manchester. Also, as a serious private investor and regular Financial Times journalist, I had done very nicely out of Trafford Park Estate shares. However, what is concerning me now is that people are increasingly referring to me as ““Old Trafford””. It gave me considerable satisfaction on a hot Monday evening, after my introduction, to revisit after so many years the tearoom in the other place. Not a great deal had changed. Indeed, the pork pie I decided against seemed very similar to the one I spurned in 1992. In fact, I felt that it almost winked at me. I was proud to represent the north-east Lancashire constituency of Nelson and Colne—renamed Pendle on a boundary change—for 13 years. It is the home territory of my noble friend Lord Greaves, who has played such an influential political role there over so many years. I am also touched that my predecessor, the noble Lord, Lord Hoyle, is with us in the Chamber today. There then followed for me 13 years away from Westminster, so, in total, a quarter of a century of political activity and reflection. I have reached a number of personal conclusions. A British Prime Minister just has too much personal power and patronage. Governments of all persuasions try to do too much, usually with undue haste, and too infrequently are prepared to admit mistakes and failures. Additionally, I believe party labels exaggerate political divisions. If all our politicians were to be given a confidential questionnaire, probably 80 per cent would be ticking the same boxes. Finally, while the public have a very low opinion of politicians in general, a more favourable impression arises when they have real experience of their own Member of Parliament or similar. Much of this is picked up by the Power report, and in part has undoubtedly contributed to the democratic malaise we have all identified. I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Kennedy, and her team on their weighty report. The problem for me is that no way have I got time in my short contribution to adequately address such a broad, complex political canvas. My colleagues may find my attitude to the Power commission somewhat conservative—but then, in my case, that is hardly surprising. I query the phrase ““grave concern”” that is used in the report to describe political alienation in our country today. Surely that is a tad over the top. Serious and worrying, perhaps, and changes are unquestionably required, but let us keep the problem in perspective. Some of Power’s recommendations find favour with me: strengthening the powers of the Select Committees; reducing the power of the Whips, capping personal donations to political parties; as referred to by my noble friend Lord Goodhart; and replacing deposits with the signatures of supporters. Some, however, I am unhappy with: for example, lowering the voting age to 16, particularly for general elections, and a 70 per cent elected Chamber is, for me, on the high side. For the most part, though, I am uncertain. Variants of proportional representation hold some attractions, but I question whether new political parties—almost certainly single-issue, or built around egocentric personalities—have a real future role. I have to confess that I had not focused at all on the question of overseas voters, and thus appreciated the contribution of the noble Lord, Lord Taylor, in his excellent maiden speech. We all have a part to play in rebuilding the bridges to our people, and a responsibility to do so. In particular, Governments should be much more upfront and honest in admitting their mistakes, rather than attempting to bluff their way out of obvious failures. I would suggest that the media has a role to play in promoting our democracy. By all means expose hypocrisy or wrongdoing, but please desist from peddling the myths that if politicians are not in the Chamber they are not working; that their gross salary and expenses is their net take; and that parliamentary Recesses are just for extended holidays and junkets. Finally, as chairman of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, of which the Palace of Westminster has recently become a member, and which Lady Baker, the wife of the noble Lord, Lord Baker of Dorking, my friend and my other supporter, played a leading role in establishing, I welcome the likely development of a parliamentary visitor and information centre. Done properly, and on a sufficient scale, it could play a very useful role in promoting Parliament’s history and its workings. In summary, my overall preference is for evolutionary change and reform, which our country and our democracy have done so well over the years. Your Lordships’ House, which I am so privileged and proud to join this week, is very special, and in my view is held in much greater esteem out there, particularly in the regions, than some here imagine. We change it too speedily, and too radically, at our peril.