It is starting to dawn on me that I will soon be the only commoner I know. I am racking my brains trying to think of anyone I have even met in recent years who has not been ennobled, and at present I am drawing a blank. Each time I am out of the UK I return to find another honours list and another batch of peers. By the time the magazine has gone to press this column’s sub-editor will probably have been called to the Upper House.
Should the Upper House really be a chamber filled with failed MPs, council leaders and spads?
This is not – I would like to stress – sour grapes. I have no personal desire to be in the House of Lords. Indeed it always surprises me that anyone would. They can’t have ever been there. I also vaguely share Kingsley Amis’s views about accepting titles. Before he did accept one, Amis expressed doubts – the main one being a fear of embarrassment.
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