King’s Speech

Lord Bailey of Paddington Excerpts

Wednesday 8th November 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bailey of Paddington (Con) (Maiden Speech)]

My Lords, it is a great honour to address this House for the first time. I wish to extend my heartfelt gratitude to noble Lords on all sides of the House for their warm welcome in my first few days here. I also thank the staff teams, particularly the ever-helpful Anna Stockwell and, of course, the doorkeepers, with their supernatural ability to discern when I am lost.

I stand among your Lordships today as the grandson of immigrants, the sole surviving son of my single-parent mother. We lost my brother to the scourge that is alcoholism. The journey that led me from the small bedroom that I shared with my brother in my granddad’s house to this auspicious House has been long and sometimes arduous. It was a journey made possible only by the unwavering support of my mum, Carmen Rose, and the continued support of my wife, beloved Elinor. Of course, there is the challenge of my extended family and my community, who have always pushed me to do better.

This journey has been marked by many a trial—finding out that I am dyslexic and having to start my education all over again felt like a backward step. I was homeless and sofa-surfing for many years, eventually being rescued by my Aunty Norma. I had long periods of being unemployed. I could not find a job. Being unemployed is terrifying, but it teaches you a lot about self-determination and resilience.

It has not all been struggle. In my 30-plus years of youth and community work, I have had the privilege of chairing the Pepper Pot Day Centre and being a co-founder of the MyGeneration youth project. I have been able to live, work and serve in some of the most diverse communities, in London and across the world. That has been a great pleasure. Being part of the cadet movement has been a big part of my life, which culminated in me being made an honorary colonel for the Royal Fusiliers, an honour that I will always cherish. One of the most pivotal moments was finding my Christian faith, at St. Mary’s Bryanston Square. I am so thankful to my church community then and now.

Life for me has been a journey of tough lessons, varied experiences and good people, which has left an indelible mark on my convictions and beliefs. When I look back over my life, I see that it could have followed a very different path had it not been for some of the people that I had met in my formative years—Colonel Connolly from the ACF, my gymnastics coaches, Lisa and Maria, and of course, my youth mentor, Baron Hulme. Those people inspired me to make the right decisions, the right choices, to avoid the ever- present spectre of crime which consumed many of my contemporaries.

Crime is a destructive force. It tears apart communities. It stifles social progress. In areas riddled with crime, the uptake of educational opportunities diminishes, job prospects disappear and social cohesion weakens. It becomes an immense challenge to focus on your studies when there is the ever-present danger of being murdered. The allure of crime is often far easier than the hard pursuit of GCSEs and A-levels. Measures coming up in the business of the Government to tackle knife crime are welcome, but it must be remembered that addressing crime is an issue for a wider section of society and not just the law, the judiciary and the police. Over 30 years of youth work and toiling in many different communities, I have learned this: the antidotes to crime are inspiration and opportunity, family and security, rights and responsibilities. Aspiration comes from teaching young people their responsibilities as well as their rights. We often speak to our young people about their rights. How much do we speak to them about their responsibilities? It is important to say to young people, “The world does not owe you a living, but we do owe you a chance”. From education and training to home ownership, we must demonstrate to young people that we have a future for them that is within their grasp.

That brings me to family. Family is the much-underrated solution to a myriad of our social problems. We must empower communities to nurture and support their own children. We must not treat deprived communities as if they have no agency of their own. Developing that agency is where sustainable crime reduction, social mobility and social progress come from. It is not only about parachuting professionals in to manage struggling families.

The work of this House has never been more important, more crucial. As public discourse becomes more and more divisive, we must not lose the ability to parlay with people of different beliefs. We must not lose the ability to have nuanced debate. As the Bible states in the book of Matthew:

“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand”.


The attitude to counter this is encapsulated in a Jamaican greeting—brace yourself if you are taking notes. That greeting is “Wah gwaan”. For those who are not steeped in Jamaican patois, the best translation that I can offer is “What is going on?” In this context, it means, “We must have ears to hear people who have different beliefs to us”. We must not always seek to convert people to our own beliefs and sell them the latest social trend.

If we are to help this country to prosper, which I believe all here want, we must do this. I stand before you now with a fervent commitment to social mobility, to the betterment of our nation, and I implore us all to do our part to fulfil that responsibility and uphold the strength of our beloved country. Our young people need us. The future of this nation needs us. We must stand together and demonstrate to young people the value and the history of this country. Let us remember that our young people are assaulted every day by images telling them that Britain is a horrible place. I am here to play my part in letting them know that this is the best place, this is God’s place, this is the country that will help them to prosper, and this is the country that will help the world to answer some of its own problems. We need to be the leaders in that conversation.