Earl of Onslow slates ‘people’s peers’

The Earl of Onslow (pictured), one of the 90-odd hereditary peers who still sit in the House of Lords, has launched a withering attack on the Government's avowed plan to flood the second chamber with so-called "people's peers". His concerns are not, as some might expect, about the idea of allowing "ordinary" people to wear ermine and pontificate on the issues of the day, but rather the fact that those currently being put forward are either establishment figures or people who are connected with party donations.

The Earl, whose title dates back to 1801, told the Times: "Sometimes people's peers have been announced and the mind has gone into overtime boggling over it."

One who falls into the "boggling" category is Baron Moser of Regent's Park in the London Borough of Camden, who was elected a peer in 2001. Moser is the former chairman of The Royal Opera House and Vice chairman of Rothschild's bank.

Onslow says: "If you had appointed Mick Jagger, you could claim he was a people's peer, but Claus Moser? No."

However, he is particularly scathing about individuals who get into the Lords through making donations to political parties. The Times recently reported that a company of which crossbencher Lord Hameed is connected, Alpha Hospitals, donated £400,000 to the Liberal Democrat party, and that when Hammed's name was put forward it was supported by Lord Clement Jones, the Lib Dem treasurer and chairman of the lobbying company whose clients include Alpha Hospitals.

Hameed denies knowing that Alpha had made this donation, and to this Onslow says: "Why should a company like that want to give money? The bit I find odd is that Hameed didn't know. It's always the same. If you say 'This man has been a big donor to the Liberal party, he is a thoroughly good egg, I can support him', everybody knows where it's coming from."

Onslow says the Lords Appointments Commission needs "a big kick up it's arse."