See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy ANDREW PIERCE, DAILY MAIL CONSULTANT EDITOR AND COLUMNIST Published: 01:00 BST, 1 June 2026 | Updated: 01:09 BST, 1 June 2026
With over 100 members more than the Commons’ 650, the Lords is the second-largest legislature in the world after China’s National People’s Congress.But the arrival of former Conservative Cabinet minister Michael Forsyth as Lord Speaker seems to have shaken some sense into the unelected chamber – and peers are now quitting Parliament at an unprecedented rate.Almost every week since his debut earlier this year, he has informed the chamber that more and more members have decided to retire – 27 so far. They include: Lord Fellowes, who at 76 is a relative youngster and wrote the wonderful Downton Abbey; Lord Irvine of Lairg, 85 – Tony Blair’s first Lord Chancellor, who introduced him to his future wife Cherie Booth; and Lord Bragg, 86, the Lefty broadcaster, who departed in March. The arrival of former Conservative Cabinet minister Michael Forsyth as Lord Speaker seems to have shaken some sense into the unelected chamber, writes Andrew PierceIf you add these 27 to the 92 hereditary peers who just lost their right to sit in the upper house, the figure starts to look far more sensible – although all 752 who remain can still claim their £371 daily tax-free allowance.If Forsyth can sweet-talk another 102 oldies and infrequent attenders to quit, the Lords will be the same size as the Commons. The US Senate makes do with just 100 members. Think of the money saved if they winnowed it down to that.Moggy stays in the crease at cricketFormer ‘Honourable MP for the 18th century’, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg lived up to his traditionalist reputation last week.Dressed in a pinstripe suit, the Old Etonian condemned the MCC for allowing members in the Pavilion at Lord’s to remove their jackets in the sweltering heat, saying: ‘It is not the spirit that built an empire, is it?’ Not surprising from the man who joked his head would fall off if he ever took off his tie.The Name's Ramsay...Parliament has lost its most low-key intelligence ace, Baroness Ramsay – a former MI6 spook who has died aged 89. The only time she betrayed her expertise was when revellers arrived on Islay for ex-Nato boss George Robertson’s party and found the village hall closed. Lady Ramsay quickly picked the lock.Taxpayers face a £5million bill for the Left’s manoeuvres to bring Andy Burnham back to Westminster. ITV News has done the sums for the combined cost of the Makerfield by-election and a Greater Manchester mayoral election. Shouldn’t Labour pick up the bill for their infighting? Meanwhile, fellow leadership wannabe Wes Streeting has been asking farmers why they loathe Labour. He should know – Streeting voted six times for the ruinous inheritance tax raid on family farms. Sturgeon's blind love Last week it became apparent that Nicola Sturgeon has a marked lack of curiosity about her estranged husband Peter Murrell’s illegal spending spree.But did she not think it odd that bald Murrell bought not one but two Dyson hairdryers with £700 of SNP money? He also bought Hannah Arendt’s book The Origins Of Totalitarianism. Arendt, of course, coined the phrase the ‘banality of evil’.Sturgeon was due to chat with Kirsty Lockwood on Friday about the latter’s debut crime novel, We Know What You Did, but had the foresight to cancel.Poor prognosisFew give new Health Secretary James Murray much chance of staying when Starmer quits. ‘People whistle Paul McCartney’s Temporary Secretary when he walks past,’ says a colleague.
