Whipped into line
From Lord Belhaven and Stenton Sir: As an hereditary peer who took part in the recent elections in the House of Lords, may I say, in contradiction to Lord Cran- borne (Letters, 27 November), that Peter Oborne's article ('Ermine skulduggery', 20 November) was pretty close to the truth.
Lord Cranborne says in his letter that he voted against the 'alleged' Tory slate in voting for Lady Mar and Lord Strabolgi in the first election for officers of the House. I can only suspect that the slate which he got from the Tory whips' office was differ- ent from the one which I received, which urged me to vote for Lady Mar and Lord Strabolgi among others, all of whom were the only successful candidates. As I under- stand it, the whips of the major parties got together and produced a 'preferred' list of peers for whom we were urged to vote. Lord Cranborne must 'unwittingly' have fallen in with the wishes of the whips of the major parties.
I must say that I am somewhat surprised that he voted at all in view of the fact that he must have known that he was about to receive a life peerage.
Belhaven and Stanton
710 Howard House, Dolphin Square, London SW1
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