Brokers lording it up in Parliament

Two insurance brokers in the House of Lords? What is going on?

As an essential element in the efficient functioning of a modern economy, the insurance industry has been sorely under-represented in the corridors of power for generations.

The Conservative nominations for the House of Lords made a step towards putting this right, when Camberford Law's owner Richard Sheikh and former Jardine Lloyd Thompson director Jonathan Marland were sent on their way to the red leather benches. As I have pointed out, the current and foreseeable legislative programme includes a lot that affects the industry and it will be helpful to have a informed and experienced viewpoint contributing to those debates.

Also, the House of Lords plays the pivotal role in scrutinising European legislation, and we all know just how much influence that has had over the UK insurance market in recent years. Practitioner input into that scrutiny will be invaluable.

The shame is that they both arrive with a cloud hovering above them, having both been financial contributors to the Conservative Party. Mr Marland has made donations of over £150,000. Mr Sheikh has directly contributed £43,000, plus an undisclosed sum through the Conservative Muslim Foundation which he set up, chairs and bankrolls, using his Islamic name, Mohamed Iltaf Sheikh. These facts will be quoted endlessly as the two seek to establish themselves in Parliament, and they will have to work hard to rise above the implications that people will try to draw.

This is a shame. Perhaps they will not suffer any threat to their reputations beyond the general tarnishing of Parliament's reputation - and the House of Lords in particular - from the latest 'cash for peerages' row that, it has to be remembered, was initiated by the Labour Party and its secret loans, although the Conservative Party has not escaped scrutiny and criticism in this regard. The House of Lords has risen above these scandals before and will probably do so again although, until the second chamber is largely elected, it is hard to see how it can escape completely.

In the meantime, I wish our two ennobled brokers well and look forward to hearing them both articulate the insurance broker's cause.