Non-affiliated members of the House of Lords

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Non-affiliated members of the House of Lords are peers who do not belong to any parliamentary group. That is, they do not take a political party's whip, nor affiliate to the crossbench group, nor are Lords Spiritual (bishops). Formerly, the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary were also a separate affiliation, but their successors (the justices of the Supreme Court) are now disqualified from the Lords while in office and are described as "ineligible" rather than "non-affiliated".[1]

Most non-party Lords Temporal are crossbenchers. Members with senior official roles are counted as non-affiliated while they hold them, to preserve their neutrality; they may (re-)affiliate to a group at the end of their term of office. Some members become non-affiliated after resigning or being expelled from a party, either through a political disagreement or after a scandal such as the 2009 parliamentary expenses scandal. Others have had no party allegiance and choose this designation rather than joining the crossbench.[2]

Although the Lord Speaker must withdraw from any party affiliation upon their election to the speakership,[3] they are not considered a non-affiliated peer.

List of Non-affiliated Peers[]

The UK Parliament website lists the following ’Non-affiliated’ members of the House of Lords,[4][5] excluding those on leave of absence or suspended:[1]

Member Previous affiliation Reason for change
Lord Archer of Weston-Super-Mare Conservative Expelled following imprisonment for perjury[citation needed]
Lord Austin of Dudley Labour Joined Lords without party affiliation
Lord Bhatia Crossbench Following return from suspension from the House in connection with expenses scandal
Lord Boswell of Aynho Conservative Principal Deputy Chairman of Committees (2012–present)
Lord Bowness Conservative
Lord Brennan Labour
Lord Carter of Barnes Labour
Lord Cashman Labour Left Labour Party to support the Liberal Democrats in the 2019 European Parliament elections[6]
Lord Cooper of Windrush Conservative Suspended from party whip after expressing support for Liberal Democrats in 2019 European Parliament elections
Lord Darzi of Denham Labour Resigned from party whip in July 2019 in protest of the party's response to antisemitism complaints[7]
Lord Desai Labour Resigned from party whip in protest of antisemitism controversy within Labour[8]
Lord Elis-Thomas Plaid Cymru
Lord Faulks Conservative
Baroness Fox of Buckley Brexit Joined Lords without party affiliation
Lord Gadhia Conservative
Lord Gardiner of Kimble Conservative Senior Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords (2021–present)
Lord Heseltine Conservative Suspended from party whip after expressing support for Liberal Democrats in 2019 European Parliament elections
Baroness Hoey Labour Joined Lords without party affiliation
Lord Inglewood Conservative Excepted hereditary peer elected to Lords by Conservative hereditary peers
Lord Kalms Conservative Expelled after supporting UKIP in 2009 European elections
Baroness Kennedy of Cradley Labour
Lord Lea of Crondall Labour Suspended from party whip due to misconduct[9]
Lord Lupton Conservative
Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate Labour Following return from suspension from the House in connection with lobbying scandal[citation needed]
Lord Mann Labour
Lord Moonie Labour Resigned from party whip following suspension by party over accusations of transphobia[citation needed]
Lord Moore of Etchingham none Joined Lords without party affiliation
Lord Patel of Bradford Labour
Lord Paul Labour Following return from suspension from the House in connection with expenses scandal[citation needed]
Lord Pearson of Rannoch UKIP Resigned from party whip in protest of party leadership during Brexit negotiations[10][unreliable source?]
Lord Prior of Brampton Conservative
Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick Social Democratic
and Labour Party		 Withdrew from SDLP due to party policy regarding House of Lords[11]
Lord Smith of Finsbury Labour
Lord Stone of Blackheath Labour Suspended from party whip due to misconduct[12]
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston Labour Joined Lords without party affiliation
Lord Taylor of Warwick Conservative Following return from suspension from the House in connection with expenses scandal and imprisonment for false accounting[citation needed]
Lord Truscott Labour Resigned from party whip following the "cash for influence" allegations of 2009[citation needed]
Lord Tyrie Conservative Entered the House without affiliation due to his role as Chairman of the Competition and Markets Authority
Baroness Uddin Labour Following return from suspension from the House in connection with expenses scandal[citation needed]
Lord Wallace of Tankerness Liberal Democrat Appointed Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
Lord Walney Labour Joined Lords without party affiliation
Lord Willoughby de Broke UKIP Excepted hereditary peer elected to Lords by Conservative hereditary peers

Also previously switched affiliation to UK Independence Party

Baroness Wolf of Dulwich Crossbench

List of Independent Peers[]

There are other members listed with an ’Independent’ designation within the House of Lords:[4][5]

Member Previous affiliation Designation Notes
Baroness Blackstone Labour Labour Independent
Lord Owen Crossbench Independent Social Democrat Left the Crossbench following a donation to Labour[13]
Lord Stevens of Ludgate UKIP Conservative Independent Expelled from the Conservatives in 2004 for supporting UKIP,[14] then sat as Conservative Independent until 2012.

See also[]

  • Members of the House of Lords

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "Ineligible members of the House of Lords". UK Parliament.
  2. ^ "The party system". UK Parliament. MPs and Members of the Lords do not have to belong to a political party. Instead, MPs can sit as Independents and Lords can sit as Crossbenchers or Independents.
  3. ^ "The Lord Speaker". UK Parliament.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b "Lords by party and type of peerage". UK Parliament.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b "Members of the House of Lords". UK Parliament.
  6. ^ https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/michael-cashman-sensationally-quits-labour-16311445
  7. ^ "Three Labour peers quit over handling of antisemitism cases". The Guardian. 9 July 2019.
  8. ^ "Lord Desai quits Labour Party over racism". The Tribune (Chandigarh). 20 November 2020.
  9. ^ "Labour suspends Lord Lea of Crondall over 'stalker' behavior". The Times (UK). 14 January 2020.
  10. ^ "Former UKIP Leader Lord Pearson Resigns From Party". Politicalite. 27 October 2019.
  11. ^ "Margaret Ritchie quits SDLP to become peer". BBC. 10 September 2019.
  12. ^ "Labour peer suspended over sexual harassment and transphobia". The Guardian. 23 October 2019.
  13. ^ Eaton, George (2 March 2014). "David Owen joins Miliband's big tent with donation to Labour of more than £7,500". New Statesman. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  14. ^ "Former Conservative peer Lord Stevens to join UK Independence Party". BBC News. BBC. 18 September 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
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