Britain : Lost Souls - Brief Article

Prime Minister Tony Blair is busy breaking up the landscape. The latest portion to be consigned to the ash-heap of history is the House of Lords. Beginning with the Magna Carta in 1215-given a blip or two-hereditary peers have formed one of the chambers in the Mother of Parliaments. In the end, they had powers to advise and to delay, but not to reject legislation. Now they have voted for their own extinction, an unusual step for a constitutional body. A precedent that comes to mind is the French National Assembly voting to close down in 1940. "Long live the Republic all the same," shouted a handful of deputies on that sad occasion.

The House of Lords is not operating under the constraints of foreign invasion, of course. A politician rather than a dictator, Tony Blair merely resented that four in five of the hereditary peers were Conservatives. Intolerably embarrassing, they had to go. And they went quietly. A single romantic protested, shouting, "Stand up for your Queen and country, vote this treason down!" He was ejected.

Blair's ultimate purposes nevertheless remain mysterious. No clue has yet been given to the future composition of the House of Lords. In a process of horse-trading which nobody can fathom, just 92 of the 750 or so hereditary peers are to be allowed to retain their seats. Earlier this year, a commission was appointed to recommend the future shape and powers of the upper house. It is due to report by the end of the year, but Blair was in too much of a hurry to wait so long. Leaks from the commission reveal a deadlock about the future composition of the House of Lords. Some advocate a wholly elected upper chamber, in which case the 92 hereditary survivors will also be cast out. Blair and his supporters have apparently been pressing for a house of appointed members, who could all be relied upon to raise their right hands simultaneously, the way socialists like.

Logic intervenes at this point, to complete the destruction of tradition. If the hereditary principle is no longer acceptable for the House of Lords, the members of the royal family had better start working on their pension plans. A scene appears to be taking shape when the new Noble Lords will have no option but to shout, "Long live the Republic all the same."

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