They were particularly excited when the ex-deputy president of the Supreme Court made an appearance
Viewers were treated last night to a behind-the-scenes look at the legislature’s upper house, and the legal Twitterati got really excited about it.
Part one of ‘Meet the Lords’ aired on BBC2 yesterday. Promising “exclusive access” and “unique insights” into the unelected law-making chamber, the fly on the wall documentary showed the Lords and Ladies grappling with the controversial Housing and Planning Bill.
Though it eventually passed through the Lords (and was given Royal Assent in May), a number of peers took issue with the bill and its potential impact on poor council house tenants. One such was former Labour MP Baroness King, who really made a splash on social media during her on-screen performance.
Bit of a girl crush on Baroness King now #MeetTheLords
— miss smith (@misssmithtweets) February 27, 2017
My parents are such a huge fan of Baroness King #MeetTheLords
— MCMXCV (@Mohammed_miiah) February 27, 2017
Baroness King I've got a newly emerging respect for her not only seeing her family life but her passion to make a real change #MeetTheLords
— Ami Bravo (@AmiSingh2016) February 27, 2017
However, lawyers in particular became very excited when Lord Hope made his cameo. A retired Scottish judge, Hope served as the first deputy president of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, meaning he is Lady Hale’s predecessor. Check out King’s College London academic James Lee’s reaction:
Lord Hope! #MeetTheLords pic.twitter.com/CGRutya3LZ
— James Lee (@jamessflee) February 27, 2017
While many tweeters were seemingly excited by the documentary — such as PhD student Daniel Glover — this excitement didn’t always extend to the House of Lords itself. Leicester University law professor Martin George said the number of members should be reduced:
Baroness King is fantastic, but #MeettheLords also shows that the members should be reduced to those who work for the country's benefit.
— Martin George (@martingeorge) February 27, 2017
While Queen Mary, University London, professor Philip Cowley made this damning statement:
If you were trying to undermine support for the House of Lords, you'd be hard pushed to come up with anything to beat #MeetTheLords
— Philip Cowley (@philipjcowley) February 27, 2017
You can watch the documentary in full here.
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