1. Cummings wants to abolish House of Lords.

2. Cummings gives peerages to people that will infuriate Remainers.

3. Remainers call for House of Lords to be abolished.

4. Cummings chuckles to himself.

I see that lots of people are saying democratisation of the House of Lords - or even abolition - is needed, but I’m very cautious, especially in the current political climate. In an ideal world, our democracy would faultless and our parties ‘angels’. But that isn’t the case.

I have long been in favour of reform of HoL, but it is fraught with danger. Last year, while the Tories were trying to steamroll through legislation, it was the Lords that were putting the breaks on, because - being mostly political grandees - they understood the consequences.

If we had a totally elected House of Lords, it would - more than likely - mirror make up of the Commons: Johnson/Cummings cronies, who wouldn’t scrutinise policy and hold the government to account. In the current political climate, that is unbelievably perilous.

I believe that Cummings et al have no interest in ‘democratising’ HoL because they believe in democracy. I believe they want total control over both chambers, because they see the Lords as standing in their way, as we saw with Brexit legislation - which was the tip of the iceberg

The HoL may not be the best way to hold the government to account, but it is nowhere near as bad as some of the alternatives. There are many people there with great expertise in many areas - law, civil service, government, arts etc. I haven’t had enough of these experts.

Does the House of Lords need reform? Absolutely. Should the House of Lords being another fully elected chamber? I’m not so sure. I don’t know what the solution is, but we should be very cautious about the alternatives. Some players - as we’ve seen since 2016 - are very dangerous.