North East politician almost becomes "Lord No Place" in House of Lords

A North East politician has outlined how he nearly became “Lord No Place” when he entered the House of Lords.

Former Newcastle city councillor and North Durham MP Kevan Jones was elevated to the House of Lords after stepping down from Parliament before July’s General Election. He chose to be known as Lord Beamish, after the village in his former constituency, but decided against the nearby settlement of No Place.

In his maiden speech in the House of Lords he said: “Many people have inquired about the origins of my title, Lord Beamish. Many, including my good friend Gavin Robinson, the leader of the DUP in the Commons, asked me whether it is in honour of the famous Irish stout.

“No, it is not. It is one of the many villages that make up the North Durham constituency and, as those from the North East know, it is also the site of the world-famous open-air museum. As your Lordships know, it is always difficult to decide which village or community to include in one’s title, but I drew the line at a village very close to Beamish called No Place - I did not think that being Lord No Place would have the same ring.”

Elsewhere in his speech, Lord Beamish vowed to continue fighting for justice for subpostmasters, having campaigned for many years for subpostmasters impacted by the Horizon scandal.

He said: “I’m pleased to be reunited in this House with Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom. We served together on the House of Commons Defence Committee, but also more importantly, we worked for over 15 years on the campaign to get justice for subpostmasters affected by the Post Office Horizon scandal.

“Though we were of different political parties, we’ve worked well together and over the years, I think, have helped right a grave injustice.

“I hope to continue that work on Post Office justice. The latest scandal is around a system called Capture, which predates the Horizon system and has just been the subject of a report by the Department of Business, which highlights a similar scandal that took place with that system and its something now that I think we need now to address.”