Member

While my noble friend Lady Finn will mount a stout defence of that much maligned class, the special adviser, from which she and I are both drawn, I hope she agrees that our numbers should be limited as well. As with MPs, special advisers come in all shapes and sizes. When looking at my amendment, noble Lords might have envisaged a 20- or 30-something straight out of “The Thick of It”. In fact, former special advisers are to be found in every corner of your Lordships’ House: people such as the noble Lords, Lord Lipsey, Lord Liddle, Lord Donoughue and Lord Stevenson of Balmacara, on the Labour Benches; the noble Lord, Lord McNally, from the Lib Dems; and my noble friends Lady Laing of Elderslie, Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Lord True. They are found even on the Cross Benches, where there are people such as the noble Baroness, Lady Hogg. Between us, we render some useful service to the deliberations that we have in your Lordships’ House, but if we are not to be seen as a House of professional politicians—I welcomed what the noble Baroness the Lord Privy Seal said about that earlier—our numbers ought to be rationed as well.