Is it a sign of the authenticity of my left-leaning credentials that I’m instinctively averse to Keir Starmer’s proposal to abolish the House of Lords? It could be. It’s a cliche, though an accurate one, that people on the left are quickest to criticise one another. Of course when anyone says that about the left, people on the left get cross, but particularly if the person saying it is on the left themselves because… well, see previous sentence. The whole “never kissed a Tory” vibe so dehumanises anyone not on the left as to make them literally beneath contempt. And in terms of evading criticism, being beneath contempt can sometimes work as well as being above reproach and is a state of grace a damned sight easier to access.
So perhaps my kneejerk reaction that the leader of the Labour party has got something wrong again is a rather moving confirmation of what a warm-hearted dyed-in-the-wool progressive I actually am. On the other hand, I am slagging him off for wanting to get rid of the House of Lords so maybe I’m just a reactionary old bastard. Perhaps my real problem is that I love the House of Lords.
