Michael Zander QC reflects on his insider’s view of Tony Benn’s peerage case
Fifty-three years ago I was legal adviser to Anthony Wedgwood Benn (as he was then known), in his battle to remain in the House of Commons. At the time I was an articled clerk with Ashurst Morris Crisp & Co. I had met the Benns and was invited to dinner at their house in November 1960, shortly after his father, Lord Stansgate died. He told us how he planned to go about it. I got interested. One thing led to another.
The beginning
It started five days after Lord Stansgate died. On 22 November 1960, Benn, Member of Parliament for Bristol South-East since 1950, signed an instrument of Renunciation of his Peerage and returned the Letters Patent to Buckingham Palace. On 29 November he petitioned the House of Commons, putting forward reasons why disqualification on account of the peerage should not attach and praying that a Select Committee be appointed to consider the issue.
The question was referred by the House to its Committee of Privileges whose 12 members
