A PEER in the House of Lords went halfway to an epiphany on Thursday after he declared that the “only judge and jury in a democracy should be the people”.
Viewers may be as shocked as Daniel Hannan himself to hear those very words come out the mouth of a man who sits unelected in Westminster’s second chamber.
Hannan has bestowed such high esteem in the electorate he has chosen to continue his political career in the House of Lords - a place that gets even fewer votes than the LibDems.
Among Hannan of Kingsclere’s gripes is the disciplinary system, which he says comes between the electorate and politicians.
Unlike the House of Lords, which removed the electorate entirely.
READ MORE: Owen Paterson resigns amid 'indescribable nightmare' after Boris Johnson U-turn
“Honestly, I think the whole system of MPs' regulation is wrong. I think it infantilises the electorate,” he said.
“Anything that comes between the electorate and MPs and presumes to dictate what's allowed and what isn't tends to replace a culture of conscience with a culture of compliance.”
He continued: “This regulatory process, including IPSA, is bad because the only judge and jury in a democracy should be the people.”
What does Hannan think should be the recourse if a lord is found, like now former MP Owen Paterson, to have broken lobbying rules then?
It appears Hannan may wish to extend that view to his own corridor of power.
It comes as the Tories face accusations of “corruption” from all sides as they attempt to overhaul the disciplinary process for MPs – which prevented the imminent suspension of Paterson.
Embarrassingly, the UK Government was forced into yet another U-turn and now their plans look dead in the water.
Unfortunately for them, their efforts to protect Paterson from a one-month suspension has now led to him resigning.
Maggie Chapman blasted the party: “The last few days have shown the same old Tories at their very worst. The whole sleazy saga underlines the institutionally dysfunctional nature of Westminster and the entitlement, cronyism and hypocrisy at its heart.
READ MORE: These are the MPs facing investigations into sleaze at Westminster
“Owen Paterson was right to resign, but we must resist all attempts to water-down the rules.
“It is no surprise that an unelected peer would want to dismantle the rules and ensure even less scrutiny.
“Every day of Tory rule makes it clearer that Scotland must take a different path. We can and must be a modern, democratic and independent nation that practices transparency and accountability, rather than staying tied to this discredited and archaic Westminster system.”
And SNP appeared surprised to see a Lord come out in favour of democracy, with Richard Thomson MP saying: “It would seem that even an unelected member of the House of Lords agrees with the SNP that those making the laws of the land should be elected by the public and therefore held accountable by the public.”
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