AMBASSADOR PEERS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 87, 9 October 1937, Page 14

AMBASSADOR PEERS

In the unlikely event of the new Lord Perth being elected a Scottish representative peer before he retires from the Rome Embassy there would, of course, be no objection to his taking his seat. He would, however, not be able to speak while holding the post of Ambassador Like Lord Linlithgow, who, as Viceroy of India, also holds an office of profit under the Crown, he is debarred while Ambassador from taking an active part in legislating. During the last century a much higher proportion of Ambassadors were peers than is the case today. Lord Chilston in Moscow is now the only serving diplomat who is a member of the Upper House. Other living ex-Ambassadors who were also members of the House of Lords are Lord Derby and Lord Crewe, both formerly occupants of the Paris Embassy, and Lord Granville, Ambassador in Brussels from 1928-33. Lord Granville has been debarred from exercising his hereditary legislative functions throughout the whole of his diplomatic career. He succeeded to the title in 1891, two years before he entered the Diplomatic Service.