Non-affiliated members of the House of Lords
Non-affiliated members of the House of Lords are peers who do not belong to any parliamentary group. That is, they do not take a political party's whip, nor affiliate to the crossbench group, nor are Lords Spiritual (bishops). Formerly, the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary were also a separate affiliation, but their successors (the justices of the Supreme Court) are now disqualified from the Lords while in office and are described as "ineligible" rather than "non-affiliated".[1]
Most non-party Lords Temporal are crossbenchers. Members with senior official roles are counted as non-affiliated while they hold them, to preserve their neutrality; they may (re-)affiliate to a group at the end of their term of office. Some members become non-affiliated after resigning or being expelled from a party, either through a political disagreement or after a scandal such as the 2009 parliamentary expenses scandal. Others have had no party allegiance and choose this designation rather than joining the crossbench.[2]
Although the Lord Speaker must withdraw from any party affiliation upon their election to the speakership,[3] they are not considered a non-affiliated peer.
List of Non-affiliated Peers
The UK Parliament website lists the following Non-affiliated members of the House of Lords,[4][5] excluding those on leave of absence or suspended:[1]
| Member | Previous affiliation | Reason for change |
|---|---|---|
| Lord Archer of Weston-Super-Mare | Conservative | Expelled following imprisonment for perjury |
| Lord Austin of Dudley | Labour | Joined Lords without party affiliation |
| Lord Bhatia | Crossbench | Following return from suspension from the House in connection with expenses scandal |
| Lord Boswell of Aynho | Conservative | Principal Deputy Chairman of Committees (2012–present) |
| Lord Brennan | Labour | |
| Lord Carter of Barnes | Labour | |
| Lord Cooper of Windrush | Conservative | Suspended from party whip after expressing support for Liberal Democrats in 2019 European Parliament elections |
| Lord Darzi of Denham | Labour | Resigned from party whip in July 2019 in protest of the party's response to antisemitism complaints[6] |
| Lord Desai | Labour | Resigned from party whip in protest of antisemitism controversy within Labour[7] |
| Lord Elis-Thomas | Plaid Cymru | |
| Lord Faulks | Conservative | |
| Baroness Fox of Buckley | Brexit | Joined Lords without party affiliation |
| Lord Gadhia | Conservative | |
| Lord Gardiner of Kimble | Conservative | Senior Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords (2021–present) |
| Lord Heseltine | Conservative | Suspended from party whip after expressing support for Liberal Democrats in 2019 European Parliament elections |
| Baroness Hoey | Labour | Joined Lords without party affiliation |
| Lord Inglewood | Conservative | Excepted hereditary peer elected to Lords by Conservative hereditary peers |
| Lord Kalms | Conservative | Expelled after supporting UKIP in 2009 European elections |
| Baroness Kennedy of Cradley | Labour | |
| Lord Lupton | Conservative | |
| Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate | Labour | Following return from suspension from the House in connection with lobbying scandal |
| Lord Mann | Labour | |
| Lord Moore of Etchingham | none | Joined Lords without party affiliation |
| Lord Patel of Bradford | Labour | |
| Lord Paul | Labour | Following return from suspension from the House in connection with expenses scandal |
| Lord Pearson of Rannoch | UKIP | Resigned from party whip in protest of party leadership during Brexit negotiations |
| Lord Pendry | Labour | |
| Lord Prior of Brampton | Conservative | |
| Lord Smith of Finsbury | Labour | |
| Lord Stone of Blackheath | Labour | Suspended from party whip due to misconduct[8] |
| Lord Taylor of Warwick | Conservative | Following return from suspension from the House in connection with expenses scandal and imprisonment for false accounting |
| Lord Truscott | Labour | Resigned from party whip following the "cash for influence" allegations of 2009 |
| Lord Tyrie | Conservative | Entered the House without affiliation due to his role as Chairman of the Competition and Markets Authority |
| Baroness Uddin | Labour | Following return from suspension from the House in connection with expenses scandal |
| Lord Wallace of Tankerness | Liberal Democrat | Appointed Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland |
| Lord Willoughby de Broke | UKIP | Excepted hereditary peer elected to Lords by Conservative hereditary peers
Also previously switched affiliation to UK Independence Party |
| Baroness Wolf of Dulwich | Crossbench |
List of Independent Peers
There are other members listed with an ’Independent’ designation within the House of Lords:[4][5]
| Member | Previous affiliation | Designation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baroness Blackstone | Labour | Labour Independent | |
| Lord Owen | Crossbench | Independent Social Democrat | Left the Crossbench following a donation to Labour[9] |
See also
References
- "Ineligible members of the House of Lords". UK Parliament.
- "The party system". UK Parliament.
MPs and Members of the Lords do not have to belong to a political party. Instead, MPs can sit as Independents and Lords can sit as Crossbenchers or Independents.
- "The Lord Speaker". UK Parliament.
- "Lords by party and type of peerage". UK Parliament.
- "Members of the House of Lords". UK Parliament.
- "Three Labour peers quit over handling of antisemitism cases". The Guardian. 9 July 2019.
- "Lord Desai quits Labour Party over racism". The Tribune (Chandigarh). 20 November 2020.
- "Labour peer suspended over sexual harassment and transphobia". The Guardian. 23 October 2019.
- Eaton, George (2 March 2014). "David Owen joins Miliband's big tent with donation to Labour of more than £7,500". New Statesman. Retrieved 30 December 2016.