Morning:
5°c
Battle over elected peers as Sir Alan Sugar enters Lords
Nicholas Cecil, Deputy Political Editor20 Jul 2009
Sir Alan Sugar was today due to take his seat in the Lords as a fresh row erupted over whether peers should be elected.
The star of TV's The Apprentice was set to don ermine for the traditional ceremony of introduction to the Upper Chamber by two supporters.
Peers take the oath of allegiance to the Queen before being allowed to sit on the red benches.
Sir Alan was awarded his peerage by Gordon Brown when he named him as the Government's enterprise tsar last month.
The business entrepreneur will advise the PM, but will not become a minister.
Sir Alan stepped down from all of his company directorships at the start of this month, in order to avoid any conflicts of interest in his new role.
The 62-year-old multi-millionaire has also been dropped from advertisements to promote apprenticeships and premium bonds because of Cabinet Office guidelines that prevent political figures from taking part in Government advertising.
His appointment sparked a row over the next series of The Apprentice, which is expected to coincide with the general election spring next year.
Conservatives said he should no longer be allowed to present his high-profile BBC1 show as a signed-up Government adviser, but the corporation insisted his new role would not “compromise the BBC's impartiality”.
Meanwhile, a poll revealed that the Government faces a tough battle with Lords members over an elected Upper Chamber.
Nearly two out of three peers supported the status quo, according to the ComRes survey in The Independent.
Only nine per cent back a fully elected Upper Chamber, 18 per cent a partially-elected solution, with two per cent saying the Lords should be abolished.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw was today due to unveil some changes to Parliament in a Constitutional Reform Bill but this was not expected to include the long-debated issue of electing peers.
Life peers are expected to be granted the right to resign their seat in Lords which will reignite talk that Lord Mandelson could seek to stand again as an MP, possibly in a bid to be Prime Minister.
The Bill is also expected to include provisions to expel peers found guilty of serious crimes.
It was not clear this morning whether any such ban would be retrospective which, if it was, would mean that those who have already been sentenced to prison terms such as Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare could be removed.
It is thought the bill will end internal elections which choose new hereditary peers to replace any of the 92 in the Upper House who die. Stopping the elections would mean the number of hereditaries eventually dwindling away to nothing.
The Bill, announced by Mr Brown soon after he became Prime Minister in 2007 and published in draft form last year, will also include measures to give Parliament more say over declarations of war, end restrictions on protests in Parliament Square and ensure the independence of the civil service.
Tory leader David Cameron has made clear he would like to remove the long standing peace camp in Parliament Square.
Anti-war campaigner Brian Haw has been camping opposite Parliament since 2001, surrounded by banners and placards, leading to accusations that the square looks a mess and people working at Westminster are being disturbed by the noise.
Reader views (18)
I venture to suggest that Alan Sugar has contributed more to a modern Britain and by extensiion has more to offer and better qualified as a life peer than all the heriditary and spiritual lords who have received a cushy little number with no comparable effortt.
- Jon, London, 21/07/2009 01:52
Report abuse
I venture to suggest that Alan Sugar has contributed more to a modern Britain and by extensiion has more to offer and better qualified as a life peer than all the heriditary and spiritual lords who have received a cushy little number with no comparable effortt.
- Jon, London, 21/07/2009 01:52
Report abuse
Alan Sugar is one of the few people on TV who has done actually achieved something! Good luck to him.
Paul Merton's sad characterisation of Sugar as a generic 'Cockney Yobbo" is bad taste, a put down and shows the BBC has no editing control.
- Brian, london, 20/07/2009 23:59
Report abuse
a left wing operation to try and calm the civil unrest ....its not going to work
- Denise G, Norfolk, 20/07/2009 23:23
Report abuse
A few remarks on today's contributions:
Marvellous comment from Charlie, London: personal number plates are oh so naff, have to be paid for, and usually belong to posers; rather like some peerages.
Tom Moncrieff: calm down, dear - you read far too much between the lines; best to stop your pettifogging.
And to Prototypical Englishman from Wormwood Scrubs - delightful thoughts, especially the one about "Boris over Mandy": Mandy might like it but I'm sure Boris would hate it ...
- Tinkerbelle, london, 20/07/2009 22:35
Report abuse
I note the BBC comment about impartality. I question that comment - there are in my view many examples of the left wing bias by the BBC and many of their presenters and interviewers and if Alan Sugar continues to host The Apprentice then this will just be another example of that bias.
- David Pounds, Lee on the Solent, UK, 20/07/2009 16:56
Report abuse
A peerage today is in the same category as a personalised number plate.
- Charlie, London, 20/07/2009 16:53
Report abuse
For the record, Brian is the only person in the vicinity of the Houses of Parliament that doesn’t take bribes or fiddles his expense accounts. Mickinlondon, london.
That statement is clearly libelous and should be removed. It means that all MPs and Lords accept bribes and ALL fiddle their expenses, plus so does anyone else working in or around Parliament Square, such as those who run Westminster Abbey! That is patently untrue.
- Tom Moncrieff, london W6, 20/07/2009 16:49
Report abuse
No second chamber? Are you all mad to leave the government of the country to the lousy shower in the Other Place.
- Albert Hall, hove england, 20/07/2009 16:04
Report abuse
Quote: Bob Burbridge, Epsom, Surrey. Brian Haw is an eyesore. He claimed to be in Westminster Square in protest at the Iraq War and a half-witted seedy little judge chose to believe him and allowed him to stay against the wishes of just about everyone. Our troops have now left Iraq. So why is he still there?
Well that half-witted seedy little judge had no choice, Bob; no laws are retrospective once they are altered or introduced etc; this is because to do other-wise, would mean that if people broke a law that was not yet against the law, at the time of breaking the new later law etc; they could be charged with breaking the new law that was later introduced, long before it was against the law to break the law etc.
If you have difficulty in understanding this Bob: then have a word with Brian Haw the next time you see him, and he will explain it to you in simple English.
Brian by the way has been there for aprox 6 years; summer, winter, and fall, that takes some doing, and a lot of courage; this is because he believes in his cause etc.
Oddly enough; he has seen Blair go, and he will see Brown gone; but he is tougher and more resilient, than all of them put together.
The Judge by the way; was only following the guide-lines of English Law; he might not have even liked Brian Haw at all.
- Mickinlondon, london., 20/07/2009 15:50
Report abuse
Brian Haw is an eyesore. He claimed to be in Westminster Square in protest at the Iraq War and a half-witted seedy little judge chose to believe him and allowed him to stay against the wishes of just about everyone. Our troops have now left Iraq. So why is he still there?
- Bob Burbridge, Epsom, Surrey, 20/07/2009 14:14
Report abuse
If as the article suggests, Alan Sugar will simply "advise the PM, but will not become a minister", then WHY does he need to be elevated to the Lords? If he's not in the Cabinet, then surel;y he doesn't need to sit in either House?
- Malcolm, London, 20/07/2009 13:46
Report abuse
Yet one more free loader in the second chamber what a waste of money on this jumped up little man
- Terry Chambers, London, 20/07/2009 13:13
Report abuse
The Labour Party have always wanted to destroy the House of Lords and they've done it by flogging peerages to the scum of the earth.
- Wanda Mellish, Golders Green, London, 20/07/2009 12:48
Report abuse
Sugaring the poison?
- Albert Hall, hove england, 20/07/2009 12:44
Report abuse
House of Lords should be abolished completely. Whats the point of a second chamber at all? Why should hereditary peers, English church hierarchy, out of touch law lords or political party sponsored yes men have any say in the laws of the land. Checks and measures should be done in the house of commons as part of their normal process. House of Lords is a total waste of money and what about their expenses? Everyone beleives they've all had their noses in the trough much longer than the many crooks in the commons.
- Mark Clark, Rainham Kent UK, 20/07/2009 12:27
Report abuse
Quote: Anti-war campaigner Brian Haw has been camping opposite Parliament since 2001, surrounded by banners and placards, leading to accusations that the square looks a mess and people working at Westminster are being disturbed by the noise?
---------------------------------
Actually Brian is very quiet in Parliament Square; the traffic makes far more noise than he ever did.
For the record, Brian is the only person in the vicinity of the Houses of Parliament that doesn’t take bribes or fiddles his expense accounts.
He is also the only person in Westminster; that will talk to any passing stranger without lying or spinning about the truth and honesty.
Yes Tony Blair tried his best to silence him; but the Law allowed him to stay put; as the new draconian laws, of the New Labours Party’s attempts to ban public protests; cannot be back-dated etc.
But I like the statement that people working at Westminster? are being disturbed by the noise etc; this is very true; they really are a disturbing group of people at Westminster today.
- Mickinlondon, london., 20/07/2009 11:53
Report abuse
Mixed bag of responses here: Glad for his Lordship - the barrow boy done good; Boris over Mandy for p.m. any day of the week; the majority of the Lords should be elected, miscreants such as Archer should be put to death, and the hangers on such as Church of England types should be routed; and protests in Parliament Square are a right not a privilege and it is not for Government to remove this civil right, no matter how inconvenient it may prove to the House.
- Prototypical Englishman, Wormwood Scrubs, 20/07/2009 11:15
Report abuse
