Member

We will be doing so at a time when the proportion of the House drawn from the other Chamber is rising. In recent years, it has risen to more than a fifth of the House. Our current 21% is a record, and it shows no sign of abating. The pressure on Prime Ministers of all parties to wrap their colleagues in ermine will always be great. My noble friend Lord Vaizey of Didcot alluded earlier to his success in lobbying for a promotion to these Benches. Sometimes it is to free up a safe seat for a favoured son or daughter; sometimes it is the opportunity to rid oneself of a nuisance colleague—I will not hazard to guess which it was in my noble friend Lord Vaizey’s case.