London: The cocaine-and-prostitutes scandal that led to the resignation on Tuesday of Lord John Sewel from the House of Lords has stirred up new calls for reform of the UK's upper house.
Left-wing tabloid The Mirror called for the Lords to be scrapped entirely and replaced with an elected upper house, while the establishment's The Times focused on the "bloated" size of the chamber.
Baroness Hayman, former Lord Speaker, told Sky News "a great deal" needed to be done to change the House of Lords.
"I would like to modernise it properly," she said. "I'd like to see a break between the honours system and membership of the Second Chamber. I'd like to see terms of office, so that people had to retire. I'd like to see a retirement age. I think the House is much too big."
Lord Sewel resigned on Tuesday morning after The Sun on Sunday reported that it had video footage of him allegedly taking cocaine with two prostitutes.
The deputy speaker said in a statement: "I have today written to the Clerk of the Parliaments terminating my membership of the House of Lords. The question of whether my behaviour breached the Code of Conduct is important, but essentially technical.
"The bigger questions are whether my behaviour is compatible with membership of the House of Lords and whether my continued membership would damage and undermine public confidence in the House of Lords. I believe the answer to both these questions means that I can best serve the House by leaving it.
"As a subordinate, second chamber the House of Lords is an effective, vital but undervalued part of our political system. I hope my decision will limit and help repair the damage I have done to an institution I hold dear.
"Finally, I want to apologise for the pain and embarrassment I have caused."
But if the statement was intended to head off a more general call for reform of the House of Lords, it failed.
The Mirror quoted Darren Hughes of the Electoral Reform Society saying "the idea that peers can totally lose the confidence of the public and never be held to account is bewildering to most people. We can only get real accountability through an elected chamber."
The Times said Prime Minister David Cameron was about to appoint at least 35 new peers to join the 783 already in the Lords - the world's biggest legislative assembly apart from China's. He has already appointed 190 since becoming prime minister.
"It is farcical that convicted criminals like Conrad Black and Jeffrey Archer retain the right to attend and vote," The Times editorialised, saying it was time for a "radical" resizing either by enforcing a mandatory age of retirement, through term limits or by removing "peers who barely speak or vote".
The Lords costs an estimated £100 million a year to run. The average age of the peers in the Lords is 70, and last year there were 29 members over 90, but just two under 40. Fewer than a quarter are women.
Lord Hill told the BBC he was glad and relieved Lord Sewel had resigned. He said recent changes to the Lords enabling it to expel members – reforms in which Lord Sewel was himself involved – would have "cranked into action" had they not been pre-empted by his resignation.
But Lord Hill defended the Lords against the push for further reform, saying it was smaller than it was in the year 2000 and the new ability to resign from the House was now working, with 30 members quietly departing in recent months.
"The key question is does the House do the job that people need it to do… and I think despite these things it still does," he said.
The costs of running the Lords over the last few years fell by 15 per cent, he said.
Mr Cameron, asked if there was a case for more reform of the House of Lords, said: "I regret the fact that we didn't achieve House of Lords reform in the last parliament but it's quite clear to me there's no point in trying that route again."
However, he said the Lords should more closely resemble the political make-up of the Commons, a comment interpreted as justification for his upcoming appointment of new peers.
Until 2014 peers could only be temporarily suspended if they went bankrupt or were found guilty of treason – it took a special act of parliament to actually remove a Lord (which was done in 1917 to expel two German princes who fought for the Kaiser in World War 1).
Lord Sewel does not lose his title as a result of quitting the House of Lords – he remains Baron Sewel, of Gilcomstoun in the District of the City of Aberdeen.
As a retired peer he also keeps his access to the subsidised cafes and restaurants in Westminster (a privilege which had been intended to gently encourage older members to step down voluntarily). However, a Lords committee will meet in September to decide whether to bar him from Parliament's bars and restaurants.
