Last month we invited ConservativeHome readers to nominate the people they would like to see David Cameron appoint to the House of Lords and today we publish the first of one hundred nominations. Whilst we are neither proposing (nor expecting!) that all the individuals we highlight be appointed to the Lords forthwith, we hope this exercise will demonstrate the considerable pool of talent from which David Cameron will be able to choose when he gets the opportunity to swell the Tory ranks in the Upper House.
If you would like to nominate someone, please email Jonathan Isaby with your suggestion, ideally including key arguments for the nomination as well as biographical information. The sources of nominations will be treated confidentially where requested.
No. 1: Howard Flight
Howard Flight was Conservative Member of Parliament for Arundel and South Downs from 1997 until 2005, when his parliamentary career was brought to an abrupt halt by the then party leader, Michael Howard, a few weeks before the general election. Remarks he had made at a private meeting of Conservative Way Forward - in which he suggested that the party could make greater public spending cuts than those to which it had publicly committed itself - were leaked to the media and his resignation as a party deputy chairman was not enough for Michael Howard. Flight had the Tory whip withdrawn and was told that he would not be able to fight the general election for the party.
Using his wealth of business experience, he had previously done sterling work on the shadow Treasury team and organised the James Review to cut out waste in public spending. He also established the Conservative City Circle, helping to build links between the Conservative Party and the City. Since leaving Parliament he has remained actively involved in the CCC and most recently has written a pamphlet for the Centre for Policy Studies on the banking crisis. He has also written a couple of times for Platform on ConservativeHome.
There is a certain irony in the fact that during his final years in the Commons, he was one of the few people warning of the dangers of both the excessive increase in public spending and in consumer and mortgage borrowing and house prices. Many readers have suggested that it would be a travesty for the party not to take advantage of his expertise and that he would be an ideal addition to the House of Lords.
Jonathan Isaby