Peer of the Week - Lord Flight
Author: Jack Maizels
Published on Jul 31, 2012
Our Peer of the Week series aims to shed some light on the members of the House of Lords who contribute to making laws in the UK. Each week, we’ll look at the chosen Peer’s background, voting and attendance records as well as any controversy associated with their actions, and question whether these really are the best people to be involved in the legislative process.
Who he is:
- Born Howard Flight, he was given the peerage of Baron Flight of Worcester in 2011, having previously served as an MP until 2005
- Before entering politics, he had a career in finance, starting out at N M Rothschild’s and worked in their Merchant Banking Division in both Hong Kong and India
- He currently holds a number of directorships and chairmanships of financial companies, including various investment management firms, as well as the retail bank, Metro Bank plc
Political Involvement:
- In 1997, he was elected MP for Arundel and South Downs and went on to serve as Shadow Economic Secretary from 1999 to 2001 and Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2002 to 2004
- He was also made Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party in 2004 before being sacked the following year by the Conservative leader at the time, Michael Howard
Attendance, Voting and Expenses Records:
- In 2011, Lord Flight attended the House of Lords on 129, voting on 91 occasions and claiming £38,617 tax free in expenses
- Since being elevated to the Lords, he has voted on 151 occasions, rebelling against the rest of his party on only 4 of them, giving him a rebellion rate of 2.65%
- His votes in the Lords include backing his Party on legal aid, welfare reform and changes to the NHS
Controversy:
- He lost his position as Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party after he remarked that if the Conservatives were elected in 2005, there would be even deeper cuts than £35bn of potential savings identified by a party review
- Leader Michael Howard also deselected him as a candidate for Arundel and South Downs in 2005 and blocked him from standing again
- His peerage was announced on 19 November 2010, the same day as it was revealed that Michael Howard was to take a seat on the Lord’s Appointment Commission, which led to comments that he had received his peerage “in the nick of time”
- Within a week, he described the coalition’s changes to child benefit as “a system where the middle classes are discouraged from breeding because it's jolly expensive” and added “those on benefits have every incentive. Well, that's not very sensible”
- Although Lord Flight later apologised, Labour’s Douglas Alexander criticised Prime Minister David Cameron’s judgement, and urged him to either “back him or sack him” over the remarks
- Cameron publically disagreed with the comments before adding “I'm sure that he will want to apologise… I think we should leave it at that" and Flight proceeded to take his seat in the Lords in January 2011