LONDON — Britain’s honors system will be back in the spotlight Saturday as another procession of celebrities, government cronies and community heroes are handed New Year’s gongs. Up for grabs will be the usual mix of archaic titles, royal-approved medals and — best of all — jobs for life as lawmakers in the House of Lords.
With the 12 days of Christmas in full swing, POLITICO homes in on those enjoying the highest rung of the British honors system with a look back at the 10 most ludicrous Lords moments of 2023. As ever, there were plenty to choose from.
10. Jobs for the (nepo) boys
The vast majority of peers are appointed by the government, but, astonishingly, 92 members of the Lords are still there thanks to old-fashioned English nepotism, their titles passed down the generations from father to son. If that wasn’t weird enough, Rishi Sunak decided this year that some of these ermine-clad nepo-babies were also the best men available to hold top positions in his government. And so Timothy Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound — the Earl of Minto — was made a minister in the Department for Business in March and then a defense minister in November. Jonathan Berry, the 5th Viscount Camrose, was handed the plum artificial intelligence brief. And James Younger, Viscount Younger of Leckie, was made a minister in the Department for Work and Pensions. Nice work if you can get it.
9. Midnight marauders
It’s no secret that most members of the Lords are pretty old — the average age is 71; the oldest member is 98 — and so, one assumes, no great fans of staying up late. But thanks to endless 11th-hour tweaks to government legislation in 2023, the upper chamber has been required to debate way past midnight on multiple occasions this year. In July, Rishi Sunak was accused of using the pensioners of the upper chamber to help him avoid a series of embarrassing government climbdowns in the Commons. Double espressos all around!
8. Lord Bully
How not to behave: Conservative peer Rami Ranger, a mega-donor to the Tories, bullied and harassed a female journalist after she criticized him and an organization he runs, the House of Lords standards commissioner found. Freelance journalist Poonam Joshi claimed that in response to concerns she had raised about the Hindu Forum for Britain, Ranger had shouted at her at a Diwali event he hosted in the House of Lords, and issued a series of derogatory tweets about her. The peer was forced to apologize and agreed to undertake behavior-change coaching.
7. Endless tech fails
Did we mention most peers are getting on a bit? Not all members of the House of Lords have quite yet gotten the hang of putting their mobile phones on silent during those big parliamentary moments. Ex-trade unionist Tony Woodley, a Labour peer, was only the latest to have to apologize this month after his phone rang out in the upper chamber. On this occasion, peers were treated to the theme tune from the hit film “Mission: Impossible” during the solemn oath-swearing of new environment minister Robert Douglas-Miller. “I have never been so embarrassed in all my life, I am sincerely sorry,” Woodley said.
6. Liz Truss gets a list
Convention dictates that departing prime ministers get to hand a few close pals seats for life in the House of Lords when they exit No. 10 Downing Street. Boris Johnson’s controversial honors list was published earlier this year, and Westminster is now awaiting Liz Truss’ personal picks — which could come as soon as this weekend. (Perhaps surprisingly, there is no exception for prime ministers who were forced to resign after 44 days amid financial market chaos.) It seems not every nominee was thrilled to be on Truss’ list, however. The Times reported earlier this year that two people turned her down. Ouch.
5. The Partygate peer
In the meantime, the spotlight was fixed firmly on one of Johnson’s own resignation honors picks this year. Failed Tory London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey’s campaign team notoriously held a mid-lockdown “jingle and mingle” event during the COVID-19 pandemic, of which excruciating videos emerged shortly before he took up his House of Lords seat. Calls to block Bailey’s peerage were met with short shrift, however, and the House of Lords now counts Baron Bailey of Paddington among its number. Another controversial Johnson pick, his youthful former aide Charlotte Owen, made it into Tatler’s Little Black Book of eligibles this year.
4. Still too big
With almost 800 members, the House of Lords is famously one of the most ludicrously outsized chambers of legislature in the world. To their credit, most peers actually want to keep their numbers down, with proposals put forward in 2016 to reduce the size of the Lords to a more manageable 600 members via a “two-out, one-in” formula for appointments. Well, so much for that. A report published this July found Boris Johnson had “showed no interest in the issue of the size of the House” as he stuffed the upper chamber with his pals. The Lord Speaker’s committee got about as cross as peers get. “If our proposals for appointments had been followed as closely as those for departures, the size of the House would now be much smaller, and the reputation of the House would be correspondingly stronger,” it said.
3. Having a Mone
The most jaw-dropping political TV moment of the year also came, inevitably, via a member of the Lords. Michelle Mone — the bra entrepreneur who was made Baroness Mone by David Cameron back when he was an elected politician — offered a truly tone-deaf defense of her involvement in a highly controversial personal protective equipment deal with the U.K. government during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also admitted lying to the press over her role … not the most honorable behavior. She has taken a leave of absence from the red benches while police investigate, meaning she can’t currently vote or claim an allowance. She insists she did nothing wrong.
2. All too predictable
The House of Lords’ members are hardly immune from their colleagues’ ludicrous behavior. Crossbench peer Simon Woolley, the first Black man to head an Oxbridge college, revealed this year how he had been mistaken for a member of Lords staff by his fellow peers. “People like me are not often seen there,” Woolley told the BBC. “I would sit down in our beautiful library — it is only for peers — and I would be at my desk, get a tap on the shoulder from a fellow peer … who asked [me if I could] help him with the photocopier.”
1. Cameron’s comeback
What else could we choose? Best known for gambling, and losing, Britain’s membership of the European Union, David Cameron appeared to have self-terminated his political career in 2016 by resigning as both prime minister and MP. But this November, Rishi Sunak wanted a big-hitter to serve as U.K. Foreign Secretary … and Cameron was his unlikely choice. First, Sunak had to quickly get him back into parliament — and so, like magic, Dave became Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton, life peer in Britain’s unelected upper chamber. Conveniently for Cameron, the elected MPs of the lower chamber can’t easily call him in for a grilling, thanks to his elevated parliamentary status. Other Cabinet ministers can only dream of such luxury. Cameron, meanwhile, can barely conceal his glee.
