Member

Lord Lloyd-Webber, like many noble Lords who are fortunate enough, never claimed a penny for his attendance in your Lordships’ House. A far greater problem than the irregular attenders or those who work hard as excepted hereditaries are those who attend your Lordships’ House but hardly take part. That category of Peer falls between this debate and the debate on the next group of amendments that we will have, but I hope we will not let them out of our sights—because we all know who they are. They grace us with their presence briefly, sitting just out of sight underneath the Gallery. They pop in for the first Question of the day, or take part in the first Division, and then are gone. If they linger here, it is only to sit in those plastic pods that have sprung up around this world heritage site, so that they can take their private phone calls or bring their business associates here to be impressed by the surroundings. They fail my noble friend Lord Dobbs’s test of serving the institution rather than themselves.