About 70 Tory MPs are planning to sabotage the coalition government's attempt to reform the House of Lords, mainly by filibustering it to death.
Lord (Nigel, abu Nigella) Lawson was on TV last night, pouring scorn on the reformists' idea of moving to a PR-based Upper Chamber. (The plan would see 80% of the Lords elected using PR, with the rest of the seats reserved for a smattering of the existing incumbents). The new peers, he said, would in effect be "selected by the political parties, from lists of people who aren't good enough to get themselves elected to the Commons". Don't hold back there, Nige -- tell us what you really think.
Put that way, the reform proposal doesn't sound all that great -- though as a basis for selecting lawmakers for the 21st century, it does seem just a little bit preferable to heredity and patronage.
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