I laughed out loud when I read that yesterday Conrad Black, aka Lord Black of Crossharbour, had been expelled from the House of Lords for non-attendance. 

I’ve been blogging on-and-off for years about the convicted fraudster Conrad Black, well before he threatened to sue me for defamation. 

Unaware

Black told the CBC he was unaware that his membership of the Lords had been terminated. He said it didn't really matter to him but he was surprised he wasn't notified first.

For years Black hasn't been remotely interested in what was happening in the UK Parliament - nor in keeping up with the evolving rules governing its membership.

Yesterday morning peers were told that Lord Black had ceased to be a member 

"pursuant to Section 2 of the House of Lords Reform Act 2014, by virtue of non-attendance in the last Session"

Planning to return

After he was released from prison in Florida he told the BBC in 2019 that he planned to return to the Lords but it didn’t happen.

It may have been something to do with his opaque tax status. I don’t know.

I have long been interested in his tax affairs. After the Ashcroft scandal in early 2010 the UK Parliament passed the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act which obliged all members of the UK Parliament to pay UK tax.

Unlike members of the House of Commons who, as a matter of practical politics, have to live in the UK, peers can live absolutely anywhere. Even, dare I say, in Canada.

Tax status

Years ago I pressed the House of Lords authorities to ask all peers if they paid UK tax. They refused to do so. In the genteel and trusting world of the House of Lords that was a step too far.

But they did say they would remind all peers of their obligation under the 2010 Act to pay UK tax.

Conrad Black wouldn't have liked that.

My Freedom of Information requests to HMRC and the CRA about Lord Black’s tax status predictably ran into the sands of taxpayer confidentiality and got nowhere. I found it impossible to establish if all members of the UK Parliament complied with the requirement to pay UK tax.

"Fully qualified"

In 2021 I asked Black if he satisfied the requirements for membership of the UK Parliament or if he was there under false pretences he told me:

 “Of course I am fully qualified to hold the status I do.”

Black, the convicted fraudster, is inviting us to take that on trust. (I don't.)

Black will, of course, keep his honorific title though I doubt he will use it here in Canada. 

But I suspect he will still be Lord Black when he books a restaurant table in London.

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