Former media baron Conrad Black has been removed from the House of Lords due to non-attendance.
Lord Black, formally styled as the Baron Black of Crossharbour, has held a seat in the House of Lords since his appointment as a British peer by then-prime minister Tony Blair in 2001. The House of Lords is the upper chamber of the British Parliament, akin to the Canadian Senate.
Members are not elected, but are instead generally appointed by the monarch on recommendation from the British prime minister. Some members are hereditary peers, who inherit their positions.
While Lord Black has lost his seat, he retains his peerage and title.
True North reached out to Lord Black to request a comment.
“I hadn’t set foot there for 21 years and don’t find British politics interesting now. They’re entitled to have active peers and I’m happy to keep the title,” Lord Black told True North
Born in Montreal, Lord Black is a businessman, historian, and columnist.
Former prime minister Tony Blair offered Lord Black, a dual Canadian-British citizen, the title in 2001, granting him a seat in the United Kingdom’s upper chamber as Lord Black of Crossharbour.
However, House of Lords Speaker Lord McFall announced his removal on Wednesday, effective July 9.
The announcement also included several other lords who “by virtue of non-attendance,” have ceased to be members of the House of Lords.
Canadian prime minister Jean Chrétien tried to block Lord Black’s appointment, arguing that as a Canadian citizen he was ineligible to hold a peerage. Lord Black then accused Chrétien of counselling the Queen not to grant the peerage, arguing the prime minister was acting vindictively in response to the National Post’s negative coverage of him and the Liberal party.
Following two court rejections of his lawsuit, Lord Black renounced his citizenship in 2001 and accepted the peerage. He regained his Canadian citizenship two decades later and said he regretted giving it up..
“I was just so enraged at Jean Chrétien’s malice that the only way that I could frustrate him in his success … to oppose my becoming a peer while remaining a Canadian citizen was to do what I did,” Lord Black told the National Post in an interview last year.
Lord Black was convicted on charges of fraud and obstruction of justice in the U.S. in 2007. He was pardoned by former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2019.
Upon his pardon, Lord Black said that he planned on returning to his seat in the House of Lords.
“I have been an inactive member, but I have been invited to return as an active Conservative peer and I do intend to do that. I just haven’t gotten around to it, but I will. I will be relaunching my career as a legislator,” said Lord Black during the same interview.
However, the newly elected prime minister of the U.K. Keir Starmer has pledged to reform the House of Lords, claiming that “too many peers do not play a proper role in our democracy.”
