Why does Labour want to ban these 15 peers?

Following last week’s manifesto launches, Mr S has been looking into the fine print. As part of Labour’s plans to reform the House of Lords, Starmer says that he now wants to forcibly retire British peers at 80 years old when – he believes – they will be unfit for public service. But Steerpike is rather sceptical of how Sir Keir’s grand plans will go down with the second chamber, given the Labour leader will be turfing out some rather high-calibre comrades. 

Labour’s manifesto states that ‘at the end of the parliament in which a member reaches 80 years of age, they will be required to retire from the House of Lords’. As 83-year-old Labour peer Professor Lord Winston – a pioneer in gynaecological medicine –  put it: ‘It’s rather like saying a member of the House of Lords has to be a certain height.’ Quite. Among those whom Starmer would push out include Alf Dubs, 91, a vocal campaigner for refugees who himself was one of the Czech children rescued from Nazi Europe in the Kindertransport. He’d expel Joan Bakewell too, another nonagenarian, once hailed by Gordon Brown’s government as ‘Britain’s voice of older people’. Baroness Butler-Sloss would also go — having just last year, at the age of 90, taken up a role on the Lords procedure and privileges committee.

Yet despite these arbitrary expulsions, more controversial candidates would remain in situ. There’s Evgeny Lebedev, the son of a KGB spy and current owner of the Evening Standard, who is often derided as one of the least active peers in the House. Or Michelle Mone, whose firm PPE Medpro is currently under investigation over controversial Covid contracts. And, of course, Charlotte Owen, the former adviser to Boris Johnson who became one of the youngest ever appointees to the Lords aged, er, 30.

With almost a quarter of the Lords’ sitting members aged over 80, a Labour government could oversee an exodus of a rather impressive bunch. Mr S has compiled a handy list here of some of the Lords which Labour might not want to lay off…

1. Professor Lord (Robert) Winston, 83 years old: Professor of Science and Society and Emeritus Professor of Fertility Studies at Imperial College London, Professor Lord Winston is a pioneer in gynaecological medicine, creating new ways to improve fertility treatments and IVF.
2. Baroness (Elizabeth) Butler-Sloss, 90 years old: The fourth woman to become a High Court judge and the first female Lord Justice of Appeal, Baroness Butler-Sloss went on to become the highest-ranking female judge in the UK.
3. Lord (Alf) Dubs, 91 years old: One of the Czech children rescued from the Nazis in the Kindertransport, Dubs went on to have an illustrious career in politics, becoming a Labour MP for Battersea before holding the post of Fabian Society chair and then director of the Refugee Council.
4. Baroness (Joan) Bakewell, 91 years old: Having worked as a broadcaster, journalist and writer Baroness Bakewell was made a DBE for services to journalism and the arts before becoming a Labour peer in 2011. 
5. Lord (Herbert) Laming, 88 years old: A former probation officer and social worker from Newcastle, Lord Laming was chief inspector of the Social Services Inspectorate between 1991 and 1998. He has worked on high-profile public inquiries, including into the deaths of Victoria Climbie and Baby P. 
6. Lord (Kenneth) Clarke, 83 years old: First a barrister before becoming a Conservative MP for Rushcliffe between 1970 to 2019, Lord Clarke held a number of Cabinet posts including Lord Chancellor, Health Secretary and Justice Secretary.
7. Lord (Michael) Howard, 82 years old: Another barrister turned politician, Lord Howard was elected the Tory MP for Folkestone and Hythe. During John Major’s premiership, he held several Cabinet positions, before serving a brief stint as Conservative party leader from 2003 to 2005.
8. Lord (Norman) Lamont, 82 years old: A Cabinet minister under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, Lord Lamont was Britain’s chief negotiator for the Maastricht Treaty and negotiated Britain’s opt-out from the Euro.
9. Lord (John) McFall, 79 years old: Growing up in the west of Scotland, Lord McFall became a chemistry teacher before becoming Dumbarton’s MP in 1987. He was elevated to the Lords in 2010 by Gordon Brown, before being elected Lord Speaker of the House of Lords in 2021.
10. Baroness (Elizabeth) Smith, 84 years old: The widow of Scottish Labour leader John Smith, Baroness Smith is the president of the Scottish Opera and former chairwoman of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Her daughter, Sarah Smith, is the BBC’s North America editor.
11. Lord (Norman) Warner, 83 years old: An independent peer, Lord Warner was first an adviser to the Labour party before being elevated to the Lords, after which he served as a former health minister in Tony Blair’s government. He resigned the Labour whip in the Lords in 2015 to become an independent after criticising Jeremy Corbyn’s approach.
12. Lord (George) Robertson, 78 years old: Formerly a Labour MP for Hamilton and then Hamilton South between 1978-1999, Labour peer Lord Robertson was the defence secretary in the early days of the Blair government before becoming Nato’s Secretary General in 1999. He is now a special adviser to BP.
13. Lord (Christopher) Patten, 80 years old: Formerly director of the Conservative Research Department from 1974-79, Lord Patten became the MP for Bath from 1979 to 1992, serving as a government minister and the Tory party chairman during this time.
14. Lord (Christopher) Tugendhat, 87 years old: A former leader writer for the Financial Times, Tugendhat became the Tory MP for Cities of London and Westminister in the 1970s, before becoming vice-president of the European Commission. 
15. Lord (Neil) Kinnock, 82 years old: The former leader of the Labour Party between 1983 and 1992, Kinnock became vice-president of the European Commission before being made a Labour peer.