New members of the House of Lords should have to prove that they have had significant success in their chosen field, senior peers have said.
The call comes amid growing pressure on David Cameron after he announced 45 new peerages including for the Scottish businesswoman Michelle Mone, a Tory MP who once tried to claim expenses for his moat and another who accused Scots of having their “snout in the trough”.
The Conservative leader faced accusations hee was trying to use the Lords to further his “chumocracy” – by stuffing it full of “cronies and Tory donors”.
A sleaze watchdog did reject seven names put forward for by different parties for peerages.
But members of the Lords have called for its powers to be beefed up.
Baroness Deech, the lawyer and former chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, said that a tougher appointments commission should be created with “criteria about success in professions”.
The move could ensure the Lords did not “get any more donors and bag carriers”, she added.
She did not mention by name Ms Mone, who has faced a backlash from some business leaders.
One described her as "a small-time businesswoman with PR exposure far in excess of any success".
Making the announcement No 10 said that Ms Mone, who founded lingerie brand Ultimo, was "one of the UK's leading entrepreneurs (who) sits on the Board of Directors for The Prince's Scottish Youth Business Trust".
It added that she "plays an active role in mentoring programmes, with a particular emphasis on encouraging entrepreneurship in the young".
In a sign of the growing political difficulties over the latest round of peerages Downing Street sources last night let it be known that Mr Cameron is "open" to reform such as term limits on membership.
The dissolution honours list saw an extra 26 Tories join the Lords, with the Liberal Democrats getting 11 more places despite a disastrous general election, and Labour eight.
They included former Tory MP Douglas Hogg who was at the centre of one of the most high-profile expenses scandals of the last decade after he tried to claim for cleaning his moat on his Commons expenses
His fellow former Tory minister David Willetts accused Scots of having their "snout in the trough" of public spending in a memo to Margaret Thatcher in 1985.
Other new peers include former Conservative cabinet ministers William Hague and Andrew LansleyMr Cameron's long-standing "gatekeeper" Kate Fall, former Number 10 policy director James O'Shaughnessy, Tory Party vice-chairman Kate Rock and Conservative donor and former vice-treasurer James Lupton.
Businessman Douglas Anderson, of major tool and plant hire company the Gap Group, earlier this week said the decision to make Ms Mone a peer was 'ludicrous' and 'bad for the country.
Two weeks ago, The Herald revealed that her company had used an employee benefit trust (EBT), a tax avoidance scheme which has been heavily criticised by Chancellor George Osborne.
He said: "This is not good for the country, this is not good for the Union, this is not good for business and this is not good for the House of Lords.
"The only person I can think this is good for is Michelle Mone.'
Ms Mone has promised to work very hard for 'our country.'
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel