Lord save us

The Bill got through its third reading unamended. The Labour Party proposed several important amendments but having lost them, mostly voted for the Bill anyway -- confusion or realpolitik? One Tory, K Clarke, a pro-European all his life, voted against.

So the Bill now goes to the House of Lords. Two nights ago, a certain Lord Hain, former Labour MP Peter Hain, said he would definitely vote against. A Tory Brexiteer MP, making a rare appearance indeed on Newsnight, challenged him -- Lords were appointed not elected, the Commons had voted overwhelmingly for the Bill without amendment, a clear majority of voters in the Referendum voted out. How could Lord Hain justify his vote?

Hain said he saw himself as representing other constituencies [imaginarily of course because they had not voted for him:he said he would have preferred to have been an elected Lord, for there are indeed such persons]. The majority of Labour MPs were in favour of Remain (even though most of them voted for the Bill), and there was the minority of Remain voters [who had not elected him either]. He also had in mind the national interest.

The last claim echoed a really old argument in British politics, that the aristocracy and above all the monarchy are the only ones who can represent the national interest.The bourgeoisie, who make up most MPs, have their own business interests, but those of independent means, or independent access to power, regardless of bothersome things like having to appeal to constituents and voters, can rise above those.

There might be something in this, several historians and philosophers have argued, pointing to occasional important alliances between proletariat and aristocracy, like resisting the tyranny of Puritan campaigns against public enjoyment (including blood sports). Even so, feudal reciprocity is not really terribly liberating, and the aristocracy has its own interests too, which they are liable to see as public or national interests. Many landowners supported Remain, for example, no doubt partly because they enjoyed massive EU subsidies on agricultural land, even on shooting estates.

Anyway, Lord Hain is a bourgeois, unless a mere title has elevated him to Great Defender of the Nation.

The Lords will back down. May has emerged as a ruthless leader who will amend the rights of the Lords if necessary (often threatened by frustrated Governments).