Martin Lewis has disclosed that he was recently denied a seat in the House of Lords due of his “honesty” during a peerage interview.
The founder of the Money Saving Expert website, a 50-year-old man, mentioned that an appointments panel had turned down his application to become a crossbench peer “a couple of weeks ago.”
The advocate for consumers claimed that his denial was due to his lack of ‘openness and transparency’ on the amount of time he could commit to serving in Parliament.
With a nine-year-old daughter, Mr. Lewis explained how he would find it difficult to attend the Lords’ midweek evening sessions.
Mr. Lewis said it was the second time he had been turned down for a seat in the Lords as an independent peer in an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Political Thinking with Nick Robinson program.
He announced that the House of Lords Appointments Commission had once more rejected his request for a peerage, saying, “I just got knocked down again a couple of weeks ago, actually.”
The previous time, I was considerably more irritated. I made this incredibly stupid mistake.
I told the truth during the interview. I remarked in an interview that I always want to be open and transparent and that the Lords often meet from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays.
“Look, I need to be honest with you in terms of the hours I can give,” I told them. In addition to being quite busy at work, I also have a nine-year-old daughter who I must take care of from 6:30 p.m. till 8: o’clock at night until she is 13, or perhaps until she is 12 if need be.
According to Mr. Lewis, his work in the Lords consisted of “learning for three to five years with minimal involvement” before “gradually over the next five to ten years” spending more time to Parliament and less time to his other obligations.
The Commission had “asked me to apply again in the future,” he said, adding that this was “a stumbling point” for them.
Mr. Lewis added that he “breathed a sigh of relief” upon receiving the rejection letter since “there’s a lot of pressure on right now.”
I figured it would probably be more prudent to wait a few years [before reapplying],’ he added.
In other parts of the conversation, Mr. Lewis told Nick Robinson that, aside from his stance on Brexit, he had not been “party political” for a “some time now.”
He did, however, admit that he had joined the Liberal Democrats when he was 24 years old and had thought of running for office as an MP until he was in his early 30s.
In order to better prepare the UK for future crises, he also called Westminster’s adversarial politics “abominable” and in need of significant overhaul.
Anyone who wishes to join the Lords may do so voluntarily or may receive nominations from others.
The Lords, which currently number about 800, are the second-largest legislative body in the world, behind the Chinese National People’s Congress.
For each day they attend Parliament, peers are eligible to receive up to £323.
“Appointments are made based on how persons can contribute to the House, but are not based on care or family situations,” a spokeswoman for the House of Lords Appointments Commission stated.
It’s a really cutthroat procedure. Since we don’t fill many positions, we frequently have to reject excellent prospects.
Mr. Lewis, whose estimated net worth is £120 million, wed 43-year-old TV hostess Lara Lewington in 2009. The couple has a daughter.