House Lords Quotes
This was an invitation to Snell to the “Front Bench.” This refers to the upholstered benches of Parliament where the members sit. The Front Bench for each party is reserved for the senior party officials and loyalists. The tradition is however, that Front Benchers have to support and defend the party on all things and must adhere to and vote with the party line. Backbenchers have more freedom and autonomy.
For a conservative this is an amazing position to take because the House of Lords was and is the most conservative institution in Great Britain. However, what makes Salisbury such an effective conservative political thinker is that the mere advantage of having a House of Lords to further the conservative agenda and protect its positions does not offset the principle of having a hereditary group of people—many without merit--with no checks on them by the rest of the body politic. Conservatism ought not support aristocracy but those who have achieved by merit.
At the time, the House of Lords which was made up of aristocrats who inherited their titles and the Lords could undo any legislation that was passed by the House of Commons. This gave the aristocrats of England a veto on all legislation.
Fox hunting was a sport engaged in only by the very wealthy. The House of Lords tends to represent the views and norms of the British upper classes who engage in Fox hunting. Skinner and the House of Commons wanted to ban Fox Hunting because it is a very cruel sport with dozens of dogs chasing a single fox and often tearing him apart before the riders arrive.
1st Earl of Beaconsfield. The “Second Chamber referred to the House of Lords—the upper house of the British Parliament. The notion in both England and the United States was that the upper house—the Senate in the US case—should be independent and not easily pressured or influenced by the passions and forces of the time. One believe has been that only the wealthy could be independent since people who were not wealthy would be more easily bribed or pressured by forces in the system like a political party. In England at the time, wealth and property were synonymous. In some notable cases in American politics, wealth leaders were very independent and served the society as a whole. Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy were very wealthy men. So was Abraham Lincoln who had made a great deal of money as a lawyer. Senators and Presidents in America and Members of the House of Lords in England have tended to be much more wealthy than average. Unfortunately, although there were great examples of wealthy independent politicians, many of the upper class have an insensitivity to average people and the poor. Further, they tend to have values and beliefs that are different from most people.
England had gone through a bloody Civil War with the Parliament on one side and the King on the other. The King lost and was beheaded later that year. See {597353}.
The Queen assented but warned that members of the Royal Family should stay away from Party Politics.
