On March 20, Lord Lexden went to Woodbridge High School in Woodford, Essex ( Winston Churchill’s constituency from 1924 to 1964) under the auspices , once again, of the Lord Speaker’s “ Peers in Schools” Outreach Programme.
He told a mixed group of around 60 students about the composition of the Lords and the difficulties it creates for governments which suffer far more defeats in the Lords than the Commons.
Using slides supplied by the Lord Speaker’s office, he took his audience through the main features of the work of the Lords today, stressing the importance of its role in scrutinising legislation in detail and giving an indication of the opportunities that he had as a backbench member to ask questions and bring forward subjects for debate. He was questioned on these points ,mainly by young ladies in the group.