Revealed: rich peers paid for doing nothing

[rpannier]

Multimillionaire peers are claiming up to £40,000 a year in expenses for attending the House of Lords while making little or no contributions to debates, committees or questions, an investigation by The Sunday Times has found.

snip

The rules allow members to claim up to £300 a day for “attendance”, the only requirement being they show their faces in the chamber or a committee at some point while it is sitting.

Among the highest claimants was Lord Paul, one of Britain’s richest men. Paul, a crossbencher who was suspended seven years ago for an expenses violation, received £40,800 last year despite making no contributions in the chamber or on committees.

snip

Earlier this year former Lords Speaker Baroness D’Souza told a BBC documentary she had serious concerns over the system, but had abandoned an inquiry into it, fearing the result would be “naming and shaming” of her fellow peers.

link
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/revealed-rich-peers-paid-for-doing-nothing-hz5jv3vw7?CMP=TNLEmail_118918_1598443

[First Speaker]

1. "The House of Peers throughout the War...

"...did nothing in particular, and did it very well"...nothing has changed...

[Initech]

2. Conservative idiocy is not just an American problem.

[rpannier]

4. My understanding is in Canada

their upper house is worthless as well (except for siphoning off funds for their own use)
Australia as well

[ProudLib72]

3. I tell myself I would love a sinecure

but I think the truth is that I would become bored very rapidly.

[Warpy]

5. "The Grumpy Guide to Class," a 3 part series

will give you a lowdown on these lowdown high born peers and their entitlement (literal). A gentleman never sullied his hands with work. If he had an interest in government, he contributed. Otherwise, he just cast random votes.

Click on the title to get to the page with parts 2 and 3.