Potential peers should face job interviews, outgoing Lord Speaker suggests

Peers should face a more thorough interview process, akin to a job interview, before being given a seat in the upper chamber, the outgoing Lord Speaker has suggested.

Lord McFall of Alcluith, who will hand over to Tory grandee Lord Forsyth of Drumlean on February 2, has said every potential peer should answer questions about their skills and commitment to the House.

Speaking as a guest on the Lord Speaker’s Corner Podcast, which he usually hosts, Lord McFall said: “The House of Lords appointments committee … should interview every person who is a possible member of the House of Lords.”

He said they should be questioned “not just (on) their propriety, the sole criteria at the moment, but their qualifications, the skills they have, the contribution they think they will make, their commitment to turning up and engaging”.

Lord McFall is stepping down from the top job in the Lords a few months early to care for his wife, who has Parkinson’s, and will join the crossbenches as a working peer.

He also called for the House of Lords appointments committee to be made independent, rather than accountable to the Cabinet Office, and for it to be made easier to appoint further crossbenchers.

The committee has recommended 19 new non-party political members since 2010 who have been appointed as crossbenchers, according to the House of Lords Library.

“If we’re going to be the best think tank in the country, if we’re going to be a House of expertise, we need to have more crossbenchers in,” he said.

The Lord Speaker oversees proceedings in the chamber, plays a key role in the running of the House and acts as an ambassador for the Lords at home and abroad.

Lord McFall took up the post in 2021 after becoming a peer in 2010.

The former Labour minister was an MP for more than 20 years in the Commons, where he chaired the Treasury Select Committee from 2001 and 2010.