Starmer wants an elected second chamber to stop corruption!

 

David Lloyd George

"Lloyd George new my father, my father new Lloyde George."

Sir Keir Starmer KC, the leader of the Labour Party, says he wants to get rid of the House of Lords because it's too full of Tory financial donors, cronies, and is open to corruption. Although Labour have also given peerages to financial backers of Labour, Starmer says he wants a directly elected second chamber.

The press Baron, Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe, famously said, "When I want a peerage, I shall buy one like an honest man." How true is this? Under Lloyd George, the Honours list, became known as the "Lavender List." £10,000 could buy you a knighthood; £30,000 could buy you a baronetcy and £50,000 upwards, could get you a peerage. The honours scandal under Lloyd George, led to the passing of the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act of 1925.

David Ross, the founder of Carphone Warehouse, has been tipped for a peerage. Ross arranged Boris Johnson's £15,000 holiday in Mustique in 2020. JCB Boss, Lord Anthony Bamford, donated £23, 853 to Boris Johnson's post-wedding celebrations that took place at his Cotswolds estate in July 2022. Lord Bamford has donated millions of pounds to the Conservative Party since 2001. His son, Jo Bamford, bought Wrightbus out of administration in 2019. In March 2021, he was handed a £11.2m UK Government grant to build hydrogen buses at Wrightbus which is based in Ballymena.

Many other Tory financial backers have been elevated to the House of Lords or have been given positions in government. Boris Johnson gave peerages to friends, family, and cronies, during his premiership.