695 The House of Lords

First  viewed :  23  January  1985

A  little  bit  of  forgotten  constitutional  history  here, that  the  House  of  Lords  admitted  the  TV cameras  five  years  before  the  Commons.  The  BBC  therefore  gave  most  of  the  afternoon  over  to  live  coverage  of   a   debate  on  the  government's  economic  policy, not  something  I  imagine  they're  ever  likely  to  do  again.

I  recall  watching  it  in  the  TV  room  at  my  hall  of  residence, with  quite  an  impressive  number  of  my  house  mates, that  second  year's  cohort  being  a  quieter  more  thoughtful  bunch  than  their  hedonistic  predecessors. I  remember  Lord  Gowrie  , the  government's  bow-tied  arts  minister,  leading  their  defence  though  he  seemed  to  be  often  sidetracked  into  talking  about  the  National  Theatre  and  Sir  Peter  Hall.

Later  on,  Lord  Stockton  ( the  former  Harold  McMillan )  made  a  telling  speech  rubbishing  his  successor's  economic record  but  I'd  gone  by  that  time.