Gordon Brown is right on the Lords, Old Corruption & Boris Johnson
Gordon Brown has written in the Guardian urging Keir Starmer to stick to his pledge to back reform of the Lords.
One might think that New Labour might have done more in this respect but as Brown notes a combined opposition of those who wanted no change, abolition and something in between was problematic.
Boris Johnson advised by cynical ‘fixer’ Lynton Crosby has been advised to nominate new peers (Johnson previously said he wouldn’t increase the size of the Lords) based on them agreeing to back Tory policies amongst other things.
As Gordon Brown notes this is the anti-democratic politics of pre-1832 Old Corruption, something William Cobbett campaigned against and later amplified by E P Thompson in the Making of the English Working Class.
Essentially it meant people in favour with the Government being offered sinecures to keep them loyal or as a reward. Turning up to vote in the Lords when told to do so fits the criteria and Keir Starmer should call it out.
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