Member

Attempts to bring about reform have been floated for decades—actually, back into the 19th century—and have rarely succeeded, as others have suggested. Normally they stall on opposition in the House of Commons, as they did in 2011, when we were in coalition with the Liberal Democrats and the noble Lord, Lord Newby, and I went through the Lobbies to vote for it, or—I had written this but then the noble Lord used it earlier—they founder on the Augustinian tendency in every Government: “Holy Father, make me a reformer of the House of Lords, but not yet”. You see, it is ironic that the noble Lord and I still make a good coalition.