Peerless No More

Two hereditary peers retired from the House of Commons this year. Both were members of the Privy Council, and one was a former Cabinet Minister, while the other had been Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party, albeit in Opposition. However, neither was given a life peerage, as one of their fathers, also a disclaimed hereditary and a former (as well as a future) Cabinet Minister, had been.

However, one of those wrongs has now been righted. Michael Ancram, although he had briefly run with the wrong dogs in his time, had come round to the expression of sensible, classically Tory views on Trident, Afghanistan and the Middle East. He will now be able to express those views from the red benches.

It is notable that, unless I am very much mistaken, both of the hereditary peers (one Tory and one Lib Dem) in the House of Commons at the time of Iraq vote opposed the war, as did two of the three baronets (one Tory, one Lib Dem and one Labour). The succession of the 13th Marquess of Lothian was followed fairly quickly by his conversion to sanity.

Bringing us to the 3rd Viscount Hailsham. Was it because of his moat? That may be the official excuse. But it is always worth repeating that, as with Sir Peter Viggers's duck house, not a penny was ever paid out for Douglas Hogg's moat. No, the real reason was Hogg's opposition to the Iraq War. Simply for that opposition, he should be raised to the peerage immediately.