Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and International Committee of the Red Cross (Status) Bill

Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 17th May 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone (Con)]

My Lords, I am delighted to be able to speak in the gap, first to congratulate Dame Maria Miller, the noble Baroness, Lady D’Souza—honorary graduate of the University of Hull—and all those other people who have made this extremely sensible and necessary Bill possible. We all turn to my noble friend Lord Howell if we want to understand the profound significance of the Commonwealth today; no one is more eloquent or articulate.

There are 180 legislatures, 53 countries and 17,000 parliamentarians in the Commonwealth. It is an odiously fractious, lawless, dangerous world: we did not think that we would see war in Europe in our generation again. This is a deeply distressing and alarming situation, in which the Commonwealth plays such a critical part. We appreciate what this legislation will do to secure it and to enable it to be even more effective.

I particularly thank the noble Lord, Lord Verdirame, for his comments about the ICRC. Although I appreciated its work, he was fascinating in illuminating it further. My own grandfather was secretary of the League of Nations Union in the run-up to the Second World War and fell out over the issue of appeasement, with which he strongly disagreed—so I am an internationalist by background and I congratulate all those involved.

The reason I had to speak today was that one of our oldest and most admired friends, the noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, was giving his valedictory. People may say, “What do those unelected hereditary Peers know about the price of fish?”—although he is elected, but not by a very large constituency. I think the noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, knows a great deal about the price of fish, and much else besides. He gives Parliament a good name. He is a man of intellect, wisdom, huge generosity of spirit and great modesty. We have benefited from his contribution in so many ways. In my very humble view, however hard you try to persuade people to put themselves forward for election, I do not believe that the likes of the noble Earl would do so. So if we lose the appointment process, we will do so to our loss.

People who get elected want to please their constituency. What I particularly like about the House of Lords is that I do not have to please anybody; I can be as unfashionable and unpopular as I believe to be right. If I had to go back and speak to my constituents and please them, and be cross-questioned on all my unpopular views, I dare say that I would have to trim my sails.

There is one serious problem about the noble Earl: he is a contemporary, albeit a little older, of the Father of the House of Commons. They were at university together. We are friends from the Isle of Wight, and we both hugely revere his wife, Caroline—although we are quite frightened of her, from time to time. The noble Earl has said that it is time for retirement. He is forbidden to go anywhere near Worthing, where the Member of Parliament standing for re-election is not yet 80, but he may be by the time of the election. I hope that the noble Earl will keep his ideas to himself, or at least away from West Sussex.

The noble Earl will be very greatly missed. He has been a huge force for good over many years, and we wish him well.