If you are not on todays list of 22 new peers, you are not getting in – the House of Lords is an exclusive club. Based on those who did get in, here are a few tips that might help you jump the queue.
So with 850 peers, it can become a busy place … with 3.5 people having to cram into every seat.
Luckily, only about half of the peers attend the Lords each day, but proficiency at musical chairs will assist the dash to the benches.
Lord Brabazon of Tara advised in 2010: “Further space is available … on the Steps of the Throne.”
#2: Be a party animal
Like getting into any club, it’s about who you know.
An unusually high number of those elevated to the upper house this year have worked in senior positions in the three political parties.
Chris Lennie, was a deputy Secretary General of the Labour party. Andrew Cooper was a Downing Street pollster for the Conservative party.
Michael Farmer is a Conservative party Treasurer, while Chris Fox was the chief executive of the Liberal Democrats.
Natalie Evans was deputy director at the Conservative Research Department. And Carlyn Chisholm was co-chairman of the Conservative Candidates Committee.
If you want to have a money-making career after politics, as many MPs do, you probably don’t want be a Lord due to those pesky rules about declarations of interest.
It says: “These appointments further cement the impression that to get into the House of Lords, all you have to do is write a fat cheque to a political party or be a party hack.”
Two Conservative party donors are on the list, having given £6.9m to the party between them.
Michael Farmer has given £6.5 million to the Conservative party since 2002, while Ranbir Singh Suri has given more than £300,000.
The other four donors each gave small amounts under £50,000.