Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

I think that last remark was a little unkind, as I have been here throughout these debates and we have just had the odd guest appearance from the noble Lord, Lord Lester. So far as his criticism of the Labour Government is concerned, in terms of numbers of Liberal Peers, if he checks the figures, I think he will find that the Liberals have done very nicely thank you. It used to irritate me intensely, as it did many members of the Labour Party, that every new appointee to the House of Lords under the previous Government, whether they were former Conservative Cabinet Ministers, members of the Liberal Democrat Party or, indeed, members of the Labour Party or Cross Benchers, were all referred to indiscriminately as ““Tony’s cronies””. If they were his cronies, all I can say is that I could have done with a few more of them on our Benches when I was trying to marshal the Government’s business through with just 30 per cent of the votes. I make no complaint about that; I think it is right that this House should not have a government majority. As for the recollection of the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, if anyone communicated to me that we must tell the Liberals to vote with us, if such an agreement existed, I can only say ““Tell the Liberals to vote with us, and then they will get more Peerages”” is not a message that was communicated to me as Government Chief Whip, and I think it should have been if it were in existence.