header-logo header-logo

How to lose a title

11 April 2014 / Michael Zander KC
Issue: 7602 / Categories: Opinion
printer mail-detail
web_zanders

Michael Zander QC reflects on his insider’s view of Tony Benn’s peerage case

 

 

Fifty-three years ago I was legal adviser to Anthony Wedgwood Benn (as he was then known), in his battle to remain in the House of Commons. At the time I was an articled clerk with Ashurst Morris Crisp & Co. I had met the Benns and was invited to dinner at their house in November 1960, shortly after his father, Lord Stansgate died. He told us how he planned to go about it. I got interested. One thing led to another.

 

The beginning

It started five days after Lord Stansgate died. On 22 November 1960, Benn, Member of Parliament for Bristol South-East since 1950, signed an instrument of Renunciation of his Peerage and returned the Letters Patent to Buckingham Palace. On 29 November he petitioned the House of Commons, putting forward reasons why disqualification on account of the peerage should not attach and praying that a Select Committee be appointed to consider the issue.

The question was referred by

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Pillsbury—Lord Garnier KC

Pillsbury—Lord Garnier KC

Appointment of former Solicitor General bolsters corporate investigations and white collar practice

Hall & Wilcox—Nigel Clark

Hall & Wilcox—Nigel Clark

Firm strengthens international strategy with hire of global relations consultant

Slater Heelis—Sylviane Kokouendo & Shazia Ashraf

Slater Heelis—Sylviane Kokouendo & Shazia Ashraf

Partner and associate join employment practice

NEWS
The government’s plan to introduce a Single Professional Services Supervisor could erode vital legal-sector expertise, warns Mark Evans, president of the Law Society of England and Wales, in NLJ this week
Writing in NLJ this week, Jonathan Fisher KC of Red Lion Chambers argues that the ‘failure to prevent’ model of corporate criminal responsibility—covering bribery, tax evasion, and fraud—should be embraced, not resisted
Professor Graham Zellick KC argues in NLJ this week that, despite Buckingham Palace’s statement stripping Andrew Mountbatten Windsor of his styles, titles and honours, he remains legally a duke
Writing in NLJ this week, Sophie Ashcroft and Miranda Joseph of Stevens & Bolton dissect the Privy Council’s landmark ruling in Jardine Strategic Ltd v Oasis Investments II Master Fund Ltd (No 2), which abolishes the long-standing 'shareholder rule'
In NLJ this week, Sailesh Mehta and Theo Burges of Red Lion Chambers examine the government’s first-ever 'Afghan leak' super-injunction—used to block reporting of data exposing Afghans who aided UK forces and over 100 British officials. Unlike celebrity privacy cases, this injunction centred on national security. Its use, the authors argue, signals the rise of a vast new body of national security law spanning civil, criminal, and media domains
back-to-top-scroll