​Mone’s lies highlight problem - Angus Robertson

​The interview with Baroness Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman on Laura Kuenssberg’s Sunday Show demonstrated a staggering lack of self-awareness.

Upon realising the opportunity to make a buck, Mone approached Tory minister Michael Gove to suggest she and her husband would be ideal candidates to provide life-saving PE equipment during the Covid pandemic. It was a direct channel to a top decision-maker to whom few people have access. Those who do have such access, admitted Mone, were many other members of the House of Lords who were also winning government contracts.

This whole debacle shows exactly why the House of Lords cannot continue to exist in its present form. It is the second-largest parliamentary chamber in the world behind the Chinese National People’s Congress. One of the attributes it shares with China’s parliament, of course, is that it is also not democratically elected.

Neither is it accountable to our elected representatives, as demonstrated by the fact our new Foreign Secretary, Lord David Cameron, does not have to face scrutiny from MPs in the proper way in the House of Commons.

This can’t continue, and any serious government would rush to get rid of this corrupt system.