crossbencher
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A crossbencher is a member of the British House of Lords who is not aligned to any particular party. These
include the Law Lords and former Speakers of the House of
Commons, such as Lady Boothroyd and the late Lord Weatherill, who by convention are not aligned with any party. They are termed crossbenchers
because they sit on neither the government benches nor the opposition benches but on benches that are perpendicular to the other
sets and face the
As of 28 August 2006, there were 196 crossbenchers. They do not take a collective position on issues, although they do elect from among themselves a Convenor for administrative purposes. The current Convenor is Lord Williamson of Horton. The Convenor keeps them up-to-date with the business of the House. Although the Lords Spiritual (archbishops and some bishops of the Church of England) also have no party affiliation, they do not sit on the crossbenches (their seats are located on the government side of the Lords Chamber).
The crossbenchers are often viewed as bringing specialist knowledge to the House, since they have usually been created peers for reasons other than party or political affiliation. 164 are Life Peers and 32 are hereditary peers.
From the 24th April 2007 the crossbenchers are 204 strong in the House of Lords - taking their numbers past those of the Conservatives for the first time, but behind those of the Labour party, which has 211 members (as of April 2007).
References
- The Times, Monday April 16 2007 Days of Conservative domination in the Lords comes to an end.
External links
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