The House Of Lolly

There is widely held view that a peerage and a seat in the House of Lords is the reward of some great civil contribution to society, but recent revelations seem to discredit such a notion. Under the newspaper headline of "Peers gave political parties £14m before becoming lords" we can read the following. 'Eleven peers gave almost £14m to political parties from 2001 to the date they were ennobled, according to a report published by anti-corruption campaigners last night. A total of £39m has been donated to parties by members of the House of Lords, since records began in 2001, according to Transparency International. It said the figures would reinforce a perception that peerages can be bought.' (Sunday Times, 30 November) Needless to say all the Lords contacted denied any connection between donations and peerages.   RD