Inside the Lords: The King's speech, new faces and the Great Reseat
Claire Fox reports from parliament before the summer recess.
Inside the Lords this week will be my last for a little while, as we’re about to go on summer recess. I spoke on the King’s Speech this week - choosing to focus on criminal justice. It was an excellent day of debates, with two new ministers appointed by the government: Lord Hanson of Flint and Lord Timpson. Now, I’ve said before that I have a problem with these external appointees, if I was a Labour MP I’d be rather insulted that the Party didn’t think it could recruit from within. This is despite the fact that I admire Timpson, in particular, for his work on prison reform and agreed with much of his speech. But the fawning over him was telling - it spoke to a shift in the House this week.
Many people mentioned the ‘relief’ they felt that the ‘adults were back in the room’, that we could use a cosy, soft language with each other, that we were all friends and this period of parliament was going to take a different ‘tone’. That bubble mentality would be fine, if it wasn’t a bubble - totally out of touch with reality. I was the only person in a discussion on law and order that mentioned the Harehills riots in Leeds - which the ministers didn’t reply to. I also mentioned some of the Islamist bullying that took place during the General Election, again, to no reply. So yes, there’s a nice cosy consensus as long as you don’t upset that consensus.
Elsewhere in the House of Lords, there is a very weird atmosphere among the hereditary peers, who are set to be kicked out soon under new Labour plans. Some of them are quite independent, and contribute well to discussions. I find it very irritating when they get turned into scapegoats, as if those of us who were appointed rather than inheriting it by bloodline have some kind of greater democratic claim on our position in the chamber. But now the hereditary peers have turned their ire on the Bishops, asking why they get to stay. It would all be rather amusing if it wasn’t such a mess - and a pretence at democratic change.
Finishing on a funny note, you’ll be all delighted to know that the burning issue in the House of Lords in the first few weeks of a new parliament is where everyone sits - the Great Reseat, if you like. And having been surrounded by Tories in the opposition benches I used to call home, I’ve begun to feel uncomfortable. So, after a bit of musical chairs, I’ve found my place in between Plaid Cymru, Lib Dems and other independents right up on the back benches. I’ll still be making the same points, but from a different geographical vantage point.
The palaces of Westminster might be off on their holidays, but politics continues - and at the Academy of Ideas we’re in full swing of preparations for our Battle of Ideas festival. Make sure you join us on the 19 & 20 October at Church House, Westminster, for a weekend of public debate. See you there.
Here is my speech from yesterday in response to King's Speech on criminal justice. I had a dig about IPPs, the worrying Conversion Therapy legislation and the daft generation smoking ban. Also, Keir Starmer promises to take back control of our streets. Sounds good, but how? Giving police more bloody powers. Does anyone really believe the riots in Harehills would have been stopped by police waving around one of those proposed new Respect Orders (just ASBOs rebranded)? In the build-up to the election, the streets were out of control with intimidation of parliamentary candidates by gangs of radical Islamists bullies. Labour's response is ‘shh, don't discuss these trends’. Instead, they seem content to hide behind performative law-making.
Listen to the new Arts First Podcast, in which artist Rachel Jordan talks to fellow artists about their expectations and anxieties under the new government and art critic JJ Charlesworth leads a conversation with special guests about the Labour Party policies outlined in their document Creating Growth, which asserts that ‘people make art, policies don’t’. Is this just a cop out from giving the arts needed support?
Arts First is available on Spotify, Podbean, Soundcloud or wherever you get your podcasts.