Peter Mandelson has resigned from the House of Lords, but even if he is sentenced to prison for misconduct in public office he can still use the title Lord Mandelson until either an act of parliament, or death, takes it off him. Keir Starmer today said his govenment is indeed seeking to strip him of it. But that it takes a direct intervention from the prime minister sums up the problem with living in a semi-feudal system.
Patronage first lifted Mandelson into the Lords in 2008, despite his being forced to resign twice as a minister. The first resignation came in 1998 when he failed to declare a home loan from a millionaire backer; the second time, in 2001, was because he helped a millionaire funder for the Millennium Dome get a British passport. So elevation to the Lords allowed him to maintain influence despite his conduct losing him two ministerial positions.
