UK News ---Swraj Paul.

House of Lords to decide Swraj Paul's suspension

Sanjay Suri , CNN-IBN
Posted on Oct 19, 2010 at 08:57 | Updated Oct 19, 2010 at 09:37

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London: In Britain, the House of Lords will take a crucial vote on Thursday on whether a Bangladeshi Baroness and two Indian-born members of the House be suspended, including Lord Swraj Paul — all on the grounds of bogus claims for residential accommodation.

Lord Paul has expressed regret over the claims he made and accepted negligence.

Suspension of Baroness Uddin has been proposed until 2012 along with repayment of 125,000 pounds. The recommended suspension for Lord Bhatia is eight months and for Lord Swraj Paul four months.

Lord Meghnad Desai, Member of UK House of Lords said, "I think it's a fair decision, it's a recommendation to suspend Paul, Bhatia and Uddin. The House will discuss it on Thursday and then will vote on it, so in each of these three cases it is a reasonable judgment, it is not very harsh, it is only suspension."

But a suspension is really the most the House can do.

Desai said, "Remember that a peer is equal of every other peer. And a peer is also equivalent of the monarch, that's why we are called peers. So it's not possible for us to be expelled or to have the title taken away."

The committee headed by former MI5 chief found that Lord Paul like the others had not acted in good faith. The report said his defense was not dishonest, but was utterly unreasonable. In a statement, Lord Paul has expressed regret over the claims he made and accepted negligence. For someone as high-flying as Swraj Paul, it won't be easy to return to the House of Lords after this.

"Others have done that, this is a very forgiving country," added Desai.

The question everyone has been asking is, why Lord Swraj Paul. A multi-millionaire many times over, a 14 million pound home in London, and then claiming a room in an Oxfordshire hotel somewhere as his main residence, a place he acknowledges he never slept in, and then also defending the claim. It hasn't helped also that the other two suspended are also from the subcontinent, one of them an Indian. It may be possible for a suspended member to go back to the House of Lords, but he can never quite be a 'Lord' again.