Hamilton South By-election 1999

'The UK Parliament of course remains sovereign.' George Robertson, MP, 27 th June 1996, contradicting the Claim of Right which he signed in 1989.

The curious sayings of General George

By Dennis Canavan MP, MSP in the Herald

Who said that no referendum would be held before the establishment of a Scottish Parliament, then changed his mind, within the space of a few weeks, from no referendum to one referendum, then from one referendum to two referenda, then from two referenda back to one referendum (but with two questions)?

The answer to all the above is the new Secretary-General of Nato. For the sake of world peace and stability, let's hope that Lord Robertson's new advisers have more political nous than the man himself.

If George Robertson's first prophecy had come true, then Labour's main challenger in the Hamilton South by-election would be a corpse and there would have been no need to "elevate" the false prophet in such unseemly haste to that great superquango called the House of Lords. Nor would there have been any need for the Great Leader himself to do a parachute drop into Hamilton on his way to Balmoral last Friday.

Whatever the verdict of the good people of Hamilton on September 23, the circumstances which led to the by-election must bring further discredit on the House of Lords and hasten its demise. There are no elections to the House of Lords, but we now have a blatant example of manipulating an appointment to a non-elected chamber in order to try to influence the outcome of an election to the House of Commons. That is a cynical abuse of power and an attack on the principles of democracy.

The House of Lords is the most undemocratic house of parliament in the world. The majority of its members are there simply because their daddies were there before them. Such an anachronism should not be tolerated in any modern society, but abolishing the voting rights of hereditary peers is only a partial solution. Patronage and its abuse can be an even bigger threat to democracy than heredity. Prime Ministers can use their immense powers of patronage to reward their friends and stifle opposition. A second chamber stuffed with Tony's cronies would be even worse than what we have at present.

Blair is already using the House of Lords to give ministerial positions to mediocrities who have no electoral mandate whatsoever. Some of them have such disdain for democracy that they cannot be bothered signing ministerial replies to elected Members of Parliament, but leave it all to their civil servants.

Home Rule has at least helped to alleviate the problem in Scotland. Earlier this year, before the Scottish Parliament was set up, the New Labour Government had a record number of lords in the Scottish ministerial team at a time when the Prime Minister could have chosen from a record number of Scottish MPs in the House of Commons.

Is there a need for a second chamber at all? The experience of the Scottish Parliament may also help to answer that one. If the quality of the legislation passed by the Scottish Parliament turns out to be better than that at Westminster, then even Westminster politicians may learn lessons from the unicameral nature of the Scottish Parliament and its committee system.

More pre-legislative scrutiny should obviate the need for any revising chamber.

But the House of Lords will not go down without a fight and they may find some strange allies in some unexpected places.

Following the recent announcement about the creation of Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, the editor of the Port Ellen paper enthused about the resultant boost for the local economy. If he did not have his tongue in his cheek, I wonder what exactly he had in mind? Will the Islay economy be regenerated by boatloads of pilgrims landing at Port Ellen to pay homage at the local polis station, the scene of the great lord's nativity? Maybe they'll even erect a statue in the High Street of General George addressing the troops from the gun turret of a Nato tank. If Nato forces ever do arrive in Islay, let's hope that there will be more respect for the lives of innocent civilians than there was in Yugoslavia.

George certainly had a good war and nobody can deny that the lad has done very well for himself. There's nothing new in that. Even away back in the 1970s, before he got the nomination for the then Hamilton by-election, George was the blue-eyed boy of the Labour establishment. Those who remember his collection of quango jobs at that time found it difficult to swallow his commitment to a bonfire of quangos on Labour's return to power.

More recently, he declared his intention to stand as a candidate for the Scottish Parliament, but that may have just been a publicity sting in a debate with Alex Salmond. But who knows? Perhaps the warlord of Port Ellen will come back after his tour of duty to stand for election in Holyrood. And if he fails, he could always retire to the House of Lords - if it still exists!

- Sept 6