Written by Asa Bennett
Arise... Lord Sugar!
Among the few headline-grabbing changes in Gordon Brown’s reshuffle last month, like Lord Mandelson gaining his now infamous 34 word job title, was the elevation of Sir Alan Sugar to the House of Lords as the government’s impartial ‘enterprise tsar’.
Although some of us may have felt it necessary to check that it was not April 1st on the calendar, yesterday’s ennoblement ceremony put all doubt to rest as we saw him take up the Labour whip and be anointed Baron Sugar of Clapton.
Despite Baron Sugar demonstrating a lamentable knowledge of the nature of his government post, as seen in an interview on Andrew Marr, the Government still pressed on with ennobling him.
Why does this matter though? Put simply, it is testament to the Government’s attitude towards Parliament and the Houses of Lords, reinforcing the often levied charge that the House of Lords is full of ‘cronies’ as it proposes a candidate with controversial business practises in the hope that his showbiz glamour might rub off on them.
Consequently we see in the wake of John Bercow’s election, and the supposed ‘new dawn’ for Parliament after the expenses fiasco, that the Government still elevates long-time friends and supporters to the highest levels of office instead of more worthwhile candidates and so it has more to do in order to win over the disenfranchised electorate.
Comments
Bill Quango MP / July 22 2009 11:19am
Surely the esteemed and capable Michael Martin's elevation to Lord Gorbals of Taxi is the exception to the rule.
A true giant of parliament, who has been suitably rewarded for the sterling work he has done, achieving the distinction of being the only Speaker of the House of Commons to be booted from office in the last 300 years.
That takes some doing. He deserves his reward.