Hereditary peerages must go, says Archer

THE only seanachaí in the British House of Lords wants all members of the British parliament’s upper house to be elected and hereditary peerages abandoned.

Lord Archer of Weston-Super-Mare, appointed to the House of Lords in 1992, told a charity breakfast, in aid of the St Laurence Cheshire Home in Cork, it is farcical that being appointed to the House of Lords can depend on which cot you were born into.

Addressing the Thomas Crosbie Holdings (TCH)-sponsored event, in Cork’s Clarion Hotel, the controversial author took questions from the floor at the end of his address. Quizzed on the usefulness of the second chambers of the Irish and British parliaments, the Seanad and House of Lords, he said he believed they had a purpose but all members should be elected.