LORDING IT OVER US

By Lady Garden

PROFESSIONAL committee sitter Lord Inglewood, of Hutton-in-the-Forest, Cumbria, has appeared on telly recently.

The 73-year-old hereditary peer has told the cameras that he is “hurt” by plans by the incoming Labour Government to abolish unelected House of Lords members like himself.

His remarks were picked up and republished by local papers who were more than happy to play the world’s smallest violin for him, but not delve much further.

Yet if hereditary peers are scrapped, Lord Inglewood, a Conservative Lord for nearly 30 years, may find that his bank account “hurts” too.

Between May 2023 and May 2024, he claimed £45,000 in expenses from the taxpayer for his work in the Lords.

That’s £33,000 for attending the House of Boreds and nearly £12,000 in travel costs.

(The historic house and estate owner has been a peer since 1989 – what has he banked since then?)

His last written question in the Lords was nearly a year ago and so far in 2024, the record shows that he has made just 14 spoken contributions.

Five of those concerned the Safety of Rwanda (Immigration Bill).

Trademark dotty contributions included: “Nobody knows less about Rwanda than I do.”

He last voted on September 4th and before that it was eight months ago, according to Parliament.Uk.

(The Lords gets the whole of August off and doesn’t sit every day.)

Lord Inglewood landed this hugely exhausting role in 1989 when his father died.

He recently piped up in the Lords that the Lake District tourist economy has been hit by the Windermere sewage scandal and that some visitors now regard the area as “Costa del Septic Tank.“

A busy man, his committeeships have included the Works of Art Committee; a short spell in the mid-1990s on the Refreshment Sub-Committee; chairing the Reviewing Committee on the Exports of Works of Art; and president of the Ancient Monuments Society (how apt).

The question is…if hereditary peers are done away with from next Easter will Lord Inglewood really be missed?