Class of ’81: Who Are the True Heirs to the Changes to Its Composition Would Require Its Powers to Be Reviewed

rePorts Conservative – Lord Salisbury – Marks the frontrunner for an alternative fellow speaker Norton, Marks said who was primarily responsible for to 100 per cent. In an 80 per cent the government has to make clear the introduction of life peerages in pointed out elected house, it would be possible, a willingness to use the Parliament 1958, which were opposed by the and still desirable in Marks’s view, Act so that people concentrate on Labour Party. that the for all the political members to be the options rather than attempting Norton’s view was that the 1958 elected, leaving the remaining 20 to delay reform altogether. reforms and the abolition of the tradition per cent to be spiritual members, During the questions at the end right of hereditary peers to have crossbenchers and possibly some of the session, Norton made the seats in the House, in 1999, had, of Lords particular former post holders, point that the swing voters in the indeed, ended up strengthening the such as Speakers and Chiefs of the Lords used to be the Liberal Demo- position of the Lords. The influx reform is for Defence Staff. Norton however crats, but a combination of the of new people following the 1958 temporary doubted that all 20 per cent in such Lib Dems going into government act revitalised the House of Lords, a situation would be left to non- and crossbenchers turning out in bringing in active members, as well reforms – politicians, thinking of people such greater numbers meant that signifi- as altering the political balance and as ex-Cabinet members. He also cant power had shifted to the latter. so giving the Lords more author- 1911 and then highlighted the issue of represent- The two speakers disagreed over ity and legitimacy – which in turn ing some religions in the Lords due how likely it was that filibustering gave its members greater confi- 1998 – to end to their non-hierarchical nature, would take place over Lords reform: dence in using its powers. making selecting any representa- Norton saying that it was only a Jonathan Marks (Lord Marks up becoming tives from them problematic. feasible tactic for the Parliamentary of Henley-on-Thames), a Liberal Despite this potentially very Voting System and Constituen- Democrat peer and lawyer, looked long-term. radical nature of this reform, Marks cies Bill because of the referendum at the contemporary situation, look- also said he did not necessarily deadline, but Marks doubting that ing at the prospects for the Coalition think that the current reforms there would be any shortage of Agreement’s commitment to Lords would be the final word on the mat- excuses found to filibuster reform. reform, creating a wholly or mainly ter. In addition, he talked of long Bearing this in mind and the way elected Lords on the basis of propor- terms of office that would most that recently enobled members tional representation. Marks high- likely mean elections by thirds from the Commons seemed to be lighted that the 1911 reform talked every five years, providing a natu- changing the culture of the Lords, of introducing elections, but not ral mechanism for a gradual, phased Marks thought changes in the busi- ‘immediately’; as he said, a century introduction of the reforms and ness procedures of the Lords was is a long time to have been relying replacement of existing members. likely. That two such knowledge- on a stop-gap measure. Marks also For the elections themselves, open able members of the Lords both had reminded the audience that heredi- lists and STV are the only likely different expectations and hopes tary peers, even in very reduced electoral options in Marks’s view. for the future of the Lords left the numbers, are still present in Lords In terms of both how the Lords meeting’s attendees in no doubt that and he raised the incongruity of the operates and ensuring that it con- there is much debate yet to come as election that was then underway to tinues to be seen as subsidiary to the the next stage in the history of the elect a replacement hereditary peer Commons, a voting system that did Lords is shaped. by the alternative vote following a not have a tight constituency link You can watch the meeting in recent death. would be preferable, he said. He full at http://vimeo.com/21522060. Marks pointed out that the also emphasised the opportunity tradition of Lords reform is for that such elections would offer for Mark Pack ran the Liberal Democrat temporary reforms – 1911 and then improving the diversity of Parlia- 2001 and 2005 internet general election 1998 – to end up becoming long- ment, even perhaps including job- campaign and is now Head of Digital term. Despite the long gestation share provisions. at MHP Communications. He also period, Marks said he expected pre- Given the number of opponents co- edits Liberal Democrat Voice (www. legislative scrutiny of the govern- of Lords reform, including his LibDemVoice.org). ment’s Lords reform proposals to take around a year. He emphasised how little agreement there was over the future composition and powers of the Lords, and expected that Class of ’81: who are the true heirs to the changes to its composition would require its powers to be reviewed. SDP? Marks said that, almost with- out exception, reformers believe Centre Forum meeting, 21 March 2011, with Andrew Adonis, that the Commons should have Chris Huhne MP and Greg Clark MP; chair: Roland Rudd supremacy over a reformed Lords. Report by Tom Frostick As a matter of principle, Marks believes in an 100 per cent elected upper house, but he thought this y parents first met while the time I was born – which, one point would be used by some to serving on the Hertsmere could argue, makes me a child of argue in favour of an 80 per cent Marea committee of the the SDP? However, if you ask my elected upper house, that being Social Democratic Party (SDP); parents who they think are the ‘true the number that has emerged as they were active members around heirs’ to their former party, you 36 Journal of Liberal History 71 Summer 2011 rePorts are likely get two quite different Shirley Williams, and the family of the SDP–Liberal Alliance was the responses. After the dissolution of the late Roy Jenkins. David Owen long-awaited marriage between the SDP in 1988, one stuck with gave his apologies through a let- ‘the traditions that came out of the Liberal Democrats; the other, ter read out at the end by Roland the Liberal Party when it was a several years later, turned to New Rudd, who chaired the discussion. party of government and the bet- Labour. Why so? For no particular The timing of the event (21 March) ter traditions of the Labour Party’. reason except that one of them was may have confused editors at the So far, so good. So why did the in more of a hurry to see off John Guardian, which wrongly reported SDP fail to make a breakthrough? Major’s ageing, and increasingly that the Limehouse Declaration Agreed, the Falklands conflict in unpopular, Conservative govern- was made ‘thirty years ago today’. 1982 played its part, galvanising ment. This is what New Labour In fact, it was made on 25 January support for Thatcher at a critical promised, and, in 1997, this is what 1981. The ‘gang of four’ launched moment, as did the peculiarities of New Labour achieved. The Liberal the party over two months later on first-past-the-post. Tony Benn los- Democrats doubled their number 26 March. ing the Labour deputy leadership of parliamentary seats that year, Anyone who studies the history election was another factor, because but with a smaller percentage of the of the SDP will (or at least should) it meant that many would-be defec- vote than in 1992. feel satisfied that things are not tors remained loyal. But it seems To most former members of nearly as bad today as they were that some of the biggest obstacles the SDP, my parents included, three decades ago. At ‘Class of ’81’, facing the SDP were internal: the Labour’s 1997 landslide victory was Lord Adonis reminded audience rivalry between Owenites and a moment of relief. It marked the members of the ‘winter of discon- Jenkinsites and, above all, the end of the Conservatives’ eighteen- tent’, the ‘ungovernable state’ that party’s reluctance to take risks. ‘If year rule and the arrival of a new came close to disintegration, strike you are going to create a revolu- kind of politics which was broad action, mass unemployment, and tion, you have got to be bold’, said based and progress oriented. Poli- the widening gap between Mar- Lord Adonis, pointing at the fact cies that the SDP had once included garet Thatcher’s Conservatives thirty years that none of the Labour MPs who in its manifestos finally stood a and a leftward-drifting Labour defected in 1981 resigned to fight chance of becoming reality. For, as movement. Chris Huhne, energy on from the by-elections. far as its stance on multilateralism, secretary in the present Coalition For various reasons then, the the EU and welfare was concerned, government, talked about the early Limehouse mould of British politics remained New Labour was SDP mark II – the years of Thatcher’s premiership unbroken; despite almost equalling more popular, more robust and when the ‘Tory wets’ were on the Declaration, Labour’s share of the vote in 1983, long-lasting version – a vehicle march and the governing party the Alliance suffered abysmally in for drifting social democrats.

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