WHILE most political commentators have been focusing on the Scottish Parliament election another more bizarre election took place recently.

Viscount Thurso, who until the last Westminster election was simply John Thurso MP, has just won a vote to regain his status in the House of Lords.

It was unlike most elections in a democracy in that the number of voters was strictly limited. In fact, the electorate could all have squeezed into a phone box together to cast their votes. Only three people were allowed a say – the remaining Lib Dem hereditary peers who had the power to anoint someone to join their ranks.

Under the rules from Labour’s half-hearted attempt at modernising the House of Lords, the number of hereditary peers was reduced to 92, leaving them to elect among themselves which of their number should get a seat when one of them dies. Viscount Thurso was a member of the House of Lords between 1995 and 1999 before being expelled as a result of the reforms.

With the demise of Lord Avebury, one of the Lib Dem spots for hereditary peers was opened up. However, the voting was restricted to only the remaining Lib Dem hereditary peers, those who, as the name suggests, inherited their titles.

Viscount Thurso (who had inherited his title due to his grandfather receiving a hereditary peerage for his stint as the Liberal Party leader during the Second World War) duly won the election with all three votes and resumed his seat in the House of Lords.

Yet again, the practices and customs of the British Parliament highlight just how out of touch and bizarre this whole system is. As recently as May last year John Thurso was the Lib Dem candidate (and sitting MP) in Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.

A massive 27 per cent swing to the SNP saw Paul Monaghan win the seat with 15,831 votes compared to second-placed Mr Thurso on 11,987. The people of Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross had spoken.

They chose the SNP’s Paul Monaghan. However, due to the bizarre nature of politics in the UK, Thurso soon found himself “elected” by three former chums in the Lords, irrespective of what the public thought in Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross. As a member of the House of Lords, Viscount Thurso is able to claim £300 per day tax-free, plus limited transport costs when the Lords is sitting.

It was estimated that between February 2014 and January 2015, £21 million was spent on Lords allowances and expenses, with the average peer receiving £25,826.

Mr Thurso – or Viscount Thurso as he now calls himself again – joins a cast of more than 800 members of the House of Lords. This is the second largest parliamentary chamber in the world, beaten only by the National People’s Congress in China with almost 3,000 members but covering a population of over 1.3 billion. This also puts into context the plan by the Tory Government to reduce the number of MPs in the House of Commons while increasing the membership of the House of Lords.

Around 50 MPs’ constituencies will go by the next election following a review of constituency boundaries, yet it is expected that the Prime Minister will shore up support for his policies in the Lords by adding more Tory Lords after the EU referendum.

That is how “democracy” works in the UK. The outdated Westminster model ensures that directly elected Members of Parliament can be completely undermined and replaced by cronies appointed by the Prime Minister to ensure that he has no further problems with the Lords blocking his legislation!

I have for many years been critical of the way Scotland, the second largest part of the UK, can be outvoted by one city in the House of Commons. Scotland’s 59 elected members can easily be defeated on any vote by the city of London’s 73 elected members.

The shambles of “democracy” in the UK is not difficult to highlight. But surely even Unionists must ask themselves how on earth the UK can even consider itself as a democracy when three people have the power to select a member of the House of Lords, separate and above the will of the thousands of taxpayers in each constituency who rightfully cast their votes in real democratic elections.