No more Lords a-sleeping! Peers are warned by whip not to nod off during House debates
PEERS have been told to stop nodding off during debates.
The Government’s chief whip in the House of Lords has been forced to tick off Tories for their poor standards of conduct such as falling asleep in the Chamber.
Lord Taylor of Holbeach also singled out ‘transgressions’ including peers chatting while speeches were going on and shouting from their seats.
The ban on napping on the red benches
‘Departure from high standards’
comes amid growing anger about the work ethic of many members of the House of Lords. One in seven peers claimed thousands in perks last year despite never uttering a word in the chamber.
More than 100 members together pocketed almost £1.3million by clocking in to claim their tax-free £300 daily allowance without speaking at any point in the year.
Peers have also been criticised for attempting to thwart Brexit by voting against key elements of the Government’s EU Withdrawal Bill.
It is believed that Lord Taylor’s stern memo, entitled Behaviour in the Chamber, was prompted by debates on that legislation.
‘In recent months a departure from the normally high standards of conduct, for which the House is noted, has been observed,’ the memo stated.
‘After discussion in the government whip’s office, it was thought it might be helpful to summarise the main transgressions to assist consideration of how we might encourage improvement.’
The memo then goes on to list 15 transgressions, including ‘failing to give way when the Leader of the House is at the despatch box’, ‘audible conversations while a member is speaking’ and ‘members falling asleep in the chamber’. The image of sleeping peers has become common in the House of Lords since proceedings in the chamber were televised in the 1980s.
Lord Taylor criticised peers who ‘decline to defer to a colleague during oral questions and persist in trying to talk loudly over a colleague to the point where the Leader of the House has to intervene’. Lord Taylor told Tory peers that he had discussed the falling standards with his opposite numbers on the Labour and Liberal Democrat benches and ‘they will be circulating their own version of this to their members’.
A Labour source told The Times that peers would be reminded of conventions but said there would be no mention of sleeping. ‘Sometimes they really are closing their eyes,’ the source said. ‘Others are leaning into the monitor to hear more closely and it looks like they’ve keeled over.’