Former banker Matt Ridley has become the newest member of Britain’s parliament in a bizarre and shameful process possible only in Britain’s feudal system.
Mr Ridley was elected to fill a vacant seat by the Conservative caucus amongst the 92 hereditary legislators in the “upper” house of the country’s parliament. The people were shut out of the process, excluded totally, allowed no say, treated as serfs.
Ridley was “chairman” of the Northern Rock bank from 2004 to 2007. Following the collapse of the bank the Treasury select committee said that “The non-executive members of the board, and in particular the chairman . . . the chairman of the risk committee and senior non-executive director, failed . . . to ensure (the bank) remained liquid as well as solvent, to provide against the risks that it was taking and to act as an effective restraining force of the strategy of the executive members”.