Inside The Lords: a week of disorder

Claire Fox reports from parliament on the new world order, quangocracies and bureaucratic overreach.

In the fortnight since my last Inside The Lords, the world has changed beyond recognition. The events in relation to the US - throwing Ukraine under the bus, that infamous fight in the Oval Office and everything that has followed - has had an impact on UK politics and thus the world of parliament. There’s a lot to be said about a new world order that has been a long time coming, and I tried to explain what I mean by that on BBC Politics Live, see below. But there are a few observations I’d like to make in addition. On the one hand, it’s quite exciting when politics takes a capital P, as it has over the last couple of weeks, but there’s something off-putting about many parliamentarians seeming puffed up with importance, using events far away to posture and distract from their inadequacies back at home. International politics is indeed important - and so are domestic issues, like yet another farmers’ protest that took place outside Westminster and was routinely ignored by our government.

We’ve continued to discuss the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill. It is terrible that the legacy of the tragedy of the Manchester bombing seems to be this very poor piece of legislation. Instead of protecting against further attacks, or challenging Islamist terror, this Bill will strangle the public square, forcing community organisers, the entertainment industry and any political group to jump through a number of hoops before being allowed to bring people together. I made a number of speeches on this this week:

I also tried to urge the government to show flexibility and to make risk assessments based on evidence. Shouldn't some events and venues be able to apply for exemption from an onerous regulatory regime that could undermine civil society events, already under the cosh from council cuts and health and safety rules? Worse, in the end, this law is a distraction that won't keep people safe from terrorism:

It was International Women’s Day this week, and I sat in on a very dispiriting discussion - the usual platitudes and cliches. Three years ago I made a speech at the official IWD parliamentary event, mentioning grooming gangs and silenced women to much tut tutting and disapproval from fellow Lords. But what’s great about parliament is that I also get to go to brilliant events, like an International Women’s Day discussion on the women of Afghanistan this week. It was a wonderful gathering organised by MP Rosie Duffield and the Women’s Rights Network - with great food on top of a moving discussion.

That’s the fun side of parliament - now for the dangerously dull: the House of Lords Code of Conduct. What should be a straightforward list of rules has become a way of policing behaviour and speech. While it has been cut back, there remains some egregious clauses which treat parliamentarians like children. We only had four minutes to critique the dangerously subjective definitions of bullying and harassment that can be weaponised, or how the process is used as punishment (ask Jo Phoenix or James Tooley) - not to mention the mission creep into possible policing of Lords social-media posts.

I also had an amendment to the Mental Health Bill related to prisons, and the response from new government minister James Timpson was pretty good - helping with my fears that prisons will become a dumping ground for the mentally ill. Lord Timpson has also got back to me very quickly with an email relating to IPP prisoners, so it’s worth remembering that not all government ministers are looking for ways to avoid questions.

The Football Governance Bill is about to reach its culmination in the House of Lords, with Report stage, at which amendments will be debated and voted on, which we wrote about on our recent Substack, see below. I really believe that this Bill will damage football, which means damaging a part of the fabric of British society and social cohesion. Football is something that brings great joy (as well as the frustration when your team isn’t winning) to millions of people in this country, but it’s ours, and it is in real danger of being ruined by an over-bureaucratic government. I did a short interview with Martin Daubney on GBNews on the issue here, urging fans to get involved as the legislation moves into the House of Commons.

Lastly, I wanted to say something about the two-tier sentencing regime. It’s a shock - but not surprising - that the Independent Sentencing Review board has made it clear that certain categories of people should be exempt from jail time even if guilty - ethnic minorities and transgender people being among them. Clearly this is an affront to justice and the principle of equality under the law. But the most outrageous part of all of this is that the Secretary of State for Justice - Shabana Mahmood - has no power to overrule this decision. That means an elected politician has less say than this organisation about a fundamental part of the justice system. We might kid ourselves in parliament that we are making laws accountable to the electorate, but in truth the real power and decision making happens behind the public’s back. The quangocracy is a real anti-democratic threat, and we need to talk about how to overcome it. See you next week.

---

---

FORTHCOMING EVENTS AT THE ACADEMY OF IDEAS…

• AoI Economy Forum: How can the UK return to growth?
  7PM (GMT), THURSDAY 20 MARCH
  Online, via Zoom
  Speaker: Lord Moynihan, author of Return to Growth: How to Fix the Economy, will lead a discussion on the state and future of the UK economy.
  Tickets: Free, but register via Eventbrite.

• East Midlands Salon: Growing up in the culture wars

  7PM, THURSDAY 20 MARCH

  The Brunswick Inn, Station Road, Derby, DE1 2RU

  Speaker: Jennie Bristow and Emma Gilland

  Tickets: £3.96 via Eventbrite

• Classical Philosophy Reading Group: Phaedo and Meno

  6PM, SUNDAY 23 MARCH

  Online, via Zoom

  Third in series of discussions looking at Plato's Socratic dialogues.

  Tickets: via Eventbrite

• Buxton Freedom Hub: Technological Fixes – the need to look east

  7PM, TUESDAY 25 MARCH

  The Old Club House, Buxton, SK17 6X - £5 at door

  Speaker: James Woudhuysen

  Tickets: £5 on the door

• Dido Powell London Gallery Tours 2025: Tour 2 –focuses on the revolutionary 19th century painter JMW Turner

  2:30PM, WEDNESDAY 26 MARCH and SUNDAY 30 MARCH

  Constable at the V&A, South Kensington

  Please note that the second tour each month is a repeat of the first.

  Tickets: Each tour costs £15 per person. To book your place, please contact wendyearle@talktalk.net.

• Birmingham Salon: Does Britain inspire aspiration?

  1–3 PM, SATURDAY 5 APRIL

  Map Room, Cherry Red’s café bar, 88-92 John Bright St, B1 1BN

  Speaker: Alistair Mellon

• Leeds Salon: Forecasting failure - a short history of the future

  3PM, SATURDAY 5 APRIL

  Mill Hill Chapel (Priestly Room), City Square, Leeds

  Speakers and tickets: The Leeds Salon

• Battle of Ideas festival 2025

  SATURDAY 18 AND SUNDAY 19 OCTOBER

  Church House, Great Smith St, Westminster, London, SW1P 3BN

  Tickets: via Eventbrite.

  ---

Join us for "Upheaval: Why Politics Needs a New Language" on July 5-6, 2025, at Wyboston Lakes, Bedfordshire - a residential weekend of bold ideas, lectures, and discussions organised by Ideas Matter.

Saturday 5 & Sunday 6 July 2025
Wyboston Lakes, Great North Road, Wyboston, Bedfordshire, MK44 3AL
Ticket information here.

---