Her Majesty the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

Lord Howard of Rising Excerpts

Thursday 26th May 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Howard of Rising (Con)]

My Lords, given our role as a revising Chamber, there are very rare occasions in this House when one can indulge in unfettered praise, and rightly so. Today, however, is one of those rare occasions, as we join together to joyfully recognise Her Majesty’s unrivalled contribution to our national life.

Hearing some of the tributes to Her Majesty today, I am struck not only that the Queen has been on the throne for seven decades—70 years—but that during that long period her reign has been faultless. Her Majesty’s surefootedness defies the imagination. Personally, I find it impossible to think of any comparable achievement.

The wonderful words that Her Majesty said on her 21st birthday, which the noble and learned Lord, Lord Judge, quoted, spoke of her devotion to service. Ever since those words, Her Majesty has adhered to that promise she made, steadfastly and, on occasions, with great courage. What the country owes to Her Majesty is incalculable.

Through the many difficulties she has had to face up to throughout her reign, she has never, even for an instant, wavered in her duty or from taking the right course of action. As has already been said, she is an example to all her people, and to the world, of the meaning of “duty”. However hard a decision might be, she always puts her obligation to the country in front of everything else, whatever her personal feelings and whatever the personal cost.

One might think that behaving in such an exemplary manner might have made the Queen remote, but she has never become distant from her people. Moreover, she has retained a wonderful sense of humour, as my noble friend Lord Forsyth has so delightfully demonstrated and as I can humbly attest to.

House of Lords: Governance

Lord Howard of Rising Excerpts

Wednesday 8th December 2021 Grand Committee

[Lord Howard of Rising (Con)]

My Lords, I remind your Lordships of two comments made in our recent debate on procedures. The noble Lord, Lord Rooker, said:

“I have been a Member of your Lordships’ House for 20 years, but I have never found out who runs this place. I feel continually bounced. It is as though they have been to the Barnes Wallis bouncing school to get things through your Lordships’ House.”—[Official Report, 25/10/21; col. 526-27.]


The Noble Lord, Lord Kerr said:

“As a very young man, I worked in the Moscow embassy trying to find out what was going on in the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Soviet Union. It was difficult, but it is as hard to find out in advance what is going to happen in the Procedure and Privileges Committee of this House.”—[Official Report, 25/10/21; col. 539.]


In spite of a noble attempt by the Senior Deputy Speaker to shed some light, I fear I am not sure if I am much wiser. By the way, I still think that a camel is a horse designed by committee.

The opaqueness referred to by those two distinguished Members of this House I have just mentioned did not matter so much when our self-governing House, its traditions and its way of doing things were respected. Recently, there has been a tendency to modernise for the sake of being modern, and to do so with little or no respect for the House and those symbols which not only underwrite the continuity of the House but in some cases are an important part of the way the House does things.

There is a strong case for modernisation where it is appropriate and where it makes an improvement. For example, an efficient IT service is a modernisation which is a great improvement to the good running of the House, with no disturbance to your Lordships or deterioration to the well-being of all concerned. Assuming it is well implemented, it is a huge addition for one and all.

I respectfully suggest that getting rid of wigs and court dress is the exact opposite. Court dress and wigs transform the clerk from another person we all know and see around the House to an officer of this House, with the corresponding authority and respect. To sneak in the present dress under the cover of Covid, and with no authority from the House, is unacceptable. If whoever took this decision believes that getting rid of the symbolic dress would enhance the reputation of the House by making it appear more modern, they display a woeful case of misplaced navel-gazing and a lack of contact with the real world. They do not seem to understand that there is a value in tradition which is understood and appreciated throughout the whole of the United Kingdom, even if it is not appreciated by the metropolitan elite. If the argument for dressing down is so convincing, let it be put to the House.

Publishing Select Committee reports on a Wednesday—if you are lucky—or a Thursday, when many have left the House, and looking for approval the following Monday is a disgrace. To push the things through the House without time for the matter concerned to be considered properly does not give the House a chance to take a thoughtful view.

In recent years, the job specification for Black Rod was altered and two jobs created where the one job had worked perfectly well for as long as anyone can remember. Is this a job creation scheme of the sort we read about in “Parkinson’s Law”? The change to Black Rod’s role meant that a Director of Facilities was thought to be needed. Delightful as the individual is, I have to say that things worked perfectly well before that appointment, and the food was both better and cheaper. I dare say that the Director of Facilities is not directly responsible for catering, but could somebody please take a lesson from the other place, where the food is half the price and twice as good?

The place of your Lordships in this House is being consistently downgraded. I will not take up more of your Lordships’ time by going through the many examples of this—we would be here for a very long time. What used to be there to support your Lordships has acquired a life of its own. Those whom the noble Lords, Lord Rooker and Lord Kerr, found so mysterious have become the all-important element of this House. Enhancing and enlarging their role seems to have become their prime purpose. Providing support for the work of your Lordships should be the raison d’être of all those employed in this House. If it is not, what are they here for? It is worth noting that it is a characteristic of an organisation in decline that it concentrates on increasing its top management unnecessarily.

House of Lords: Remote Participation and Hybrid Sittings

Lord Howard of Rising Excerpts

Thursday 20th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Howard of Rising (Con)]

My Lords, the joy of this debate has been hearing my noble friend Lord Forsyth congratulating the Government. It is a rare event and I only wish that I could have seen the faces on the Front Bench—but there we are.

I hope that this House will give full support to returning to normal as soon as possible. We should resume our usual proceedings at the earliest possible opportunity. It is inconceivable that those who aspire to take part in the governing of this nation should not make the effort to attend Parliament, whatever the difficulties. Before the pandemic, facilities were made available so that those with disabilities could attend. There is no reason to suppose that this will not go on just as before.

There have been calls to continue with remote voting. I am sure that good reasons can be produced as to why it would be simpler and easier to have remote voting but, in the main, they are excuses for an easier life. I repeat that if one aspires to govern the nation, one should attend Parliament, and that includes voting and going through the Lobby.

There are those who think that the public considers that this House is too large and should be smaller. The size of the House is not of any interest to anyone outside the navel-gazing Westminster bubble. What the public finds of interest and a source of complete contempt is the idea of being paid to sit at home or on holiday drinking cocktails while receiving £163 for voting. The idea is shocking, embarrassing and demeaning, and the longer it goes on the more the media will focus on it. It should cease. I hope that this House will show some character, return to normal and end remote voting forthwith.

His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Lord Howard of Rising Excerpts

Monday 12th April 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Howard of Rising (Con)]

My Lords, reading some of the thousands of words written about His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh and his many achievements, what is striking is the number of different and successful organisations he started or changed out of all recognition. Any one of them on its own would be regarded by one of us as the highlight of a successful career. How proud one would have been to have made such a significant contribution to wildlife conservation, how pleased to have written the rules for carriage driving competitions, to have written 14 books, to have done so much for the preservation of playing fields, more and more of which are under pressure for development, or to have founded the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme, from which more than 7 million people have benefited, all while carrying out literally thousands of engagements as well as being a constant and unswerving support for the Queen. It is not for nothing that Her Majesty referred to him as her rock.

We hear much nowadays about the disadvantage of being brought up in a fractured home. We hear it trotted out as an excuse for wrongdoing. Prince Philip was brought up without a home, not really even a country, but he got on with life. He never asked for special consideration, he never made excuses. He did his best, and what a best it was.

We should all go down on our knees and thank God for giving Her Majesty and this country someone who would contribute in so many ways and whose unswerving sense of duty and obligation were strong enough that for more than 70 years he would put the welfare of this nation, Her Majesty and the British people above all else.

Not much is made of it, but Prince Philip had a great consideration for others. A small example of this is his tailor, who left the well-known Savile Row establishment where he made suits for Prince Philip to set up on his own. On hearing this, Prince Philip immediately ordered three new suits. As the tailor said, “He didn’t need them. I just filled his wardrobe”.

Above all at this time we must sympathise with Her Majesty the Queen. Her grief and sense of loss are inconceivable. The horror of no longer having someone who has been at your side for 70 years is unimaginable. It is even worse for Her Majesty, who in her unique position has lost the only person with whom she could openly confide on any subject. Only Her Majesty’s enormous strength of character will enable her to continue to carry out her duties.

Many will mourn the Duke of Edinburgh. They will be from all sorts of backgrounds. Those who were fortunate enough to have known him will miss a friend; when they saw him, it was invariably with pleasure and always wishing they had spent longer together.