Johnson’s Lords Promotions highlight the degradation of youth engagement in politics and our democracy

The narrative that youth engagement is somehow problematic has been reinforced by controversial figures, including Brendan O’Neill– a columnist from The Spectator. He wrote in a recent article that “Every time I cross paths – or swords – with a cranky student activist, I have the same thought: ‘Oh God, these people are going to be running the country one day.’ I have tormenting visions of these blue-haired censors, these giddy blacklisters of the un-PC, in parliament, drawing up laws, wagging a collective finger at the wrong-thinking throng.” O’Neill himself sparked protest in Oxford in 2018, telling student publication Cherwell that ‘he planned to criticise the ideology of transgenderism” and “make the case for freedom of speech in all matters of life’.

Former PM Boris Johnson, in what some have regarded as a defiant last move (or perhaps a middle finger up to Sunak), recently promoted two of his closest aides that happen to be in their early thirties to the House of Lords. Johnson’s critics have deemed the promotion an utterly irrefutable degradation of democracy, and have even considered it a “watershed moment” that highlights the defunct nature of the Lords. The whole affair may appear to be yet another argument for abolishing the Lords which, as Per Capita has previously reported, Labour has called for. But, regardless of your stance on Johnson, the ageist and jealousy-fuelled rhetoric only highlights the barriers that young people face upon entering politics.

In fact, there is a reasonable argument that encouraging youth proportional representation in the Lords is consistent with Labour’s vision for a “democratic chamber that is permanently closer to the British people because it is more representative of the nations and regions of the United Kingdom”, as Gordon Brown suggested in his Report on the UK’s Future. That would have been an age-appropriate response from the opposition, but alas the Starmer-led Labour Party once again failed to rise to the challenge and put up an acceptable affront, conflating two very different things: age with nepotistic or corrupt intentions. Yes, we have youth politics but given that the UK’s voting age is capped at 18, our democratic system does not provide appropriate mechanisms to platform the views of teenagers. The only recent exception to this is the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum where there was a 75% turnout by 16 and 17-year-olds and special measures were taken to enfranchise the youth to come out to vote.

Those who criticise are often out of touch with the demands of the youth, whose voices can only be represented through a few pre-existing channels.  Ross Kempsell is the other newly appointed peer in the House of Lords from a lower middle-class background– a far cry from the apparently amorphous aristocracy of the Lords. He said “Of all the disputes any Conservative might have with Keir Mather, his age cannot be one of them. The young person’s defence always has to be: ‘Judge me by the results of my work, not by my age. I am here to carry out this role properly and seriously, to the best of my ability.’ A serving cabinet minister described Kempsell as “the best opposition researcher of his generation. He’s still often the first call for ministers or MPs in trouble, and his media and political advice is highly valued.” 

Criticism of young politicians is a common means of attack across both sides of the Commons- sadly, distateful rhetoric is not limited to one party. How on earth could a “statuesque” young blonde woman, Charlotte Owen aged 31, have managed to make her way into the Lords as the youngest member of the House since the appointment of life peers in 1958, if not for some salacious activity? Labour’s Keir Mather is the “baby of the other House”, gaining his seat in the Commons after winning the Selby & Ainsty by-election aged 25. Mather has been likened to a character from the teenage comedy series The Inbetweeners. His mother sprung to his defence, telling The Times that “It doesn’t matter how old you are. Keir’s got good political acumen. I don’t see him as a novice just because of his age. Lots of young people will be welcoming him, they’re sick of older people telling them what to do.” She also noted that people say that Joe Biden “is too old”. Mather badgered his mother aged 16 to drive him to the constituency offices of local MPs, his tutor from Wadham College Oxford said that “Keir has a lifelong interest in the major figures of New Labour”.