Lord Home of the Hirsel and Parliament - active statesmanship

When David Cameron was elevated to the House of Lords, much of the commentary referred to the last former prime minister who had served as foreign secretary, Lord Home of the Hirsel. 

[The photograph is taken from the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/government/history/past-prime-ministers/alec-douglas-home]

It should be noted, however, that Lord Home did not serve as foreign secretary in the Lords after being prime minister. Rather he fulfilled the role while an MP. His return to the Lords was announced in the London Gazette on 24 December 1974.

Number of interventions

When back whence he came, the new Lord Home of the Hirsel became one of the more parliamentary active former prime ministers. He intervened 235 times between his Maiden Speech on 21 April 1975 and his death in October 1995.

Themes

He intervened on a range of themes. 

His interventions were made of up:

• Constitutional issues - 45 interventions
• Domestic issues - 80 interventions
• Economic issues - 4 interventions
• Foreign affairs - 93 interventions (of which 8 were on what became the European Union (EU) and 85 on non-EU matters)
• Miscellaneous issues - 13 interventions

Mechanisms

Lord Home also utilised a range of mechanisms. 

His interventions were via:

• Oral questions - 8
• Ministerial statement interventions - 39
• Written questions - 1
• Speeches (non-legislative) - 60
• Debating interventions (non-legislative) - 12
• Second Reading speeches - 7
• Committee Stage interventions - 57
• Report Stage interventions - 24
• Third Reading interventions - 3
• Debating interventions (legislative) - 19
• Miscellaneous (legislative) - 2
• Miscellaneous (non-legislative) - 3

Lord Home's speeches averaged 11 minutes each.

Analysis

Almost half of his interventions (112 out of 235, some 48%) were on legislation. Over half of those were during Committee Stage (57 out of 112, some 51%). This demonstrates not only that Lord Home saw the Lords as a platform for making orations on the great issues of the day, but he also took an active part in scrutinising the details of Bills. 

The only other post-war premier emeritus to have immersed themselves in the details of legislation to such an extent was James Callaghan. His doing so helped him to become, to date, the most parliamentary active premier emeritus of all time, with some 484 interventions. 

That said, Theresa May is showing signs of legislative - as well as wider parliamentary - activism. To the end of the summer 2023 recess, she had spoken in 8 Second Reading debates, intervened 3 times during Committee, twice on Report, and once on Third Reading. She had also made 21 debating interventions during legislation, and 2 miscellaneous interventions.

Reflections

Lord Home's impact on the Lords, as is widely documented, was huge. More on that another time, but, for now, if you want more qualitative analysis, including on how what Lord Home did might not accord with what we think he did, check out this article we wrote back in 2004, 'United Kingdom: life after number 10 – premiers emeritus and parliament'. 

For more on James Callaghan's and Theresa May's activity in the House of Commons see Alia Middleton and Louise Thompson's newly published article, 'More than a memento mori? Assessing the participation of former Prime Ministers in the House of Commons'.