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Is there a Toby Young in the House (Of Lords)?
Many loyal listeners of the late and very-much lamented podcast, London Calling, may recall the semi-annual banter between the co-hosts, James Delingpole and Toby Young, about Toby’s ongoing ambition to be cited on the “Honours List,” a twice-yearly proclamation (one comes out at New Year’s, and the other on the monarch’s official birthday in the summer) for an award, an honor, or a peerage, announcing those who are seen to have done good things for the country.
Inexplicably, Toby was always disappointed that his name was never on the list, and James seemed never to be surprised that his friend had been overlooked (again).
Well, Lord Toby’s day is just around the corner: Free speech champion Toby Young awarded peerage.
Now, I have some differences with the future Lord Toby. He’s a bit of a squish on a few issues, and his ignorance of how a US president is elected, of the role played by the Electoral College, and of why differences in the “national vote” totals don’t define the full story of the election, is bottomless and boundless. But he’s stalwart on the issue of free speech in a country where such a thing–while widely acknowledged–isn’t written into law, and his record on the matter, sometimes against considerable odds, is almost impeccable (I think he could have spoken up a bit more vociferously in support of Mark Steyn, although perhaps Young’s own position as a regular contributor on GBNews at the time put him in something of a bind).
In addition, Young’s performance as a podcast co-host (London Calling, The Weekly Sceptic), is also very consistent, although perhaps not in such an uplifting way.
Ricochet readers may recall the last time Toby Young really hit the news bigly, a little more than two years ago, when his personal Paypal account, the Free Speech Union’s Paypal account, and the Daily Sceptic’s Paypal account were cancelled, almost simultaneously for spurious woke reasons. Those accounts were–quickly, and after an enormous public backlash–reinstated, although not after harm was done to the reputation of all three.
Just nine months later, Nigel Farage was “debanked” by Coutts, and the predatory practices of big tech and big finance, in going after those who refused to bend the knee to the contemporary political agenda, became worldwide news in an even bigger way.
Kudos to Kemi Badenoch, new leader of the Conservative Party, for nominating Toby for this honor. She also nominated, for a peerage, Nigel Biggar, retired Oxford Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology, and author of the splendid 2023 book, Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning. The book was accepted by Bloomsbury, and subsequently rejected because the publisher felt that “public feeling” would not view it favorably. It was then published by HarperCollins, and–remarkably for the time–appears to be still in print.
Kemi Badenoch, the daughter of Nigerian immigrants to the UK, who spent much of her childhood and adolescence in Nigeria, and a few years of it in the US, knows a thing or two about colonialism and its aftermath. Prior to her election, the reprehensible Labour MP Dawn Butler tagged Badenoch as “white supremacy in blackface,” but it’s my hope that Kemi will have the last laugh.
This is a good start.
Published in General
Hear, hear!
Good on Toby!
I always laughed at the parts of London Calling when Toby attempted to rein in Delingpole.
I miss hearing those two, and clearly Toby is the sensible one…
This is good to hear, although I was surprised at the news. But then, hearing he was nominated by Kemi Badenoch, it began to make more sense. Congrats to him.
Excellent and congratulations to him, but aren’t they always threatening to abolish the House of Lords?
Though not a very regular listener to London Calling, I would play it while doing yardwork. Somehow listening to their banter and pulling weeds seem to go together.
Yes, it’s a perpetual talking point on the Left, but it must be more difficult than it sounds to actually do it. So far, the only person who’s accomplished it, even temporarily, was Oliver Cromwell, between 1649 and 1660.
I think–if they could–the Left would start with abolishing the 800 or so hereditary peerages. Those with hereditary peerages are these days generally prohibited from taking a seat in the House of Lords, but there are some rather complicated exceptions which I think are still in effect.
Lord Toby’s peerage is called a “life” peerage, in that the title dies with him. Very few hereditary peerages are awarded these days–I can’t think of one in the recent past which wasn’t in the royal family, and even then they are pretty rare. I haven’t really studied the matter, but I think it’s still pro forma, when a female with a close relationship to the monarch marries a commoner, that he should be offered the title of Earl of Curry Mallet, or Duke of Nether Wallop, or some such thing and that title would be passed down to future generations. (Often, they reuse titles which are in the royal family’s remit, in those instances, if there isn’t currently a living holder anywhere in the realm.) I’d expect, should Princess Charlotte marry Bill Wurmold from Barton-in-the-Beans, that he’d be offered a peerage at the higher and hereditary end of the noble spectrum.
A surprising number of Royals reject the offer of either a title–neither of Princess Anne’s husbands chose to be ennobled upon their marriage). Princess Alexandra’s husband (Angus Ogilvy) also rejected a title. Many decide not to call themselves “Prince” or “Princess, even when that actually is their birthright. Those who do so give up those rights are generally well-regarded, whereas Andrew and Fergie’s offspring, the “Princesses” Eugenie and Beatrice are looked at a bit squiffily. When Princess Margaret (Queen Elizabeth’s sister) married to Anthony Armstrong-Jones in 1960, the fact that he jumped at the opportunity to be elevated to the title of Earl of Snowdon wasn’t seen as a particularly favorable reflection on his character. It seems that, on balance and while most of the British public is still pretty satisfied with the way things are, the odd display of humility among the royals does pay off, particularly among the many of them who have actual jobs outside the royal family, and who aren’t viewed as trading on their royal connections every moment of the day.
This may have something to do with the public’s generally contemptuous attitude towards the Sussex children, in light of their mother’s whinging assumption that the fact that Archie and Lilibet weren’t styled “Prince” and “Princess” at birth was some sort of racist insult. The fact is that neither of them was eligible for the title until the death of their great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth in 2022, after which the announcement was made quite swiftly. Like I said, it’s complicated. And arcane. And doesn’t bend to the will of Montecito Meg.
Nigeria, of all places. The colonies are the safest repository of the best of England, and we’ll be its salvation after it falls.
I have discovered a newish Folklore, Myth, and Legend co-hosted by a Toby Young, and he sounds Brit enough to my feeble across-the-pond ear to be the same guy. He doesn’t present as a lord, but you never can tell.
Doesn’t sound like the same Toby Young to me.
Toby liked to say receiving a peerage was the only way his wife would take his name.
I miss that podcast even as James slowly descended into madness. They were witty in the way the English are masters of.
Wow, tough crowd. Bear his children fine, but be his life mate, whew…
More and more, as I observed over the last months and final weeks of London Calling, I think Toby Young exhibited the patience of Job. He followed up with another podcast, one in which he regularly seemed to be the whipping boy, and with which I’d regularly get fed up, also because it seemed that Toby needed to speak up for himself in ways that he wasn’t really willing to do, week after week.
That second podcast eventually failed, just as had the first.
I hope Toby’s doing OK. He’s been exemplary and stalwart on the matter of free speech in the UK. It’s a shame that other things have muddled their way into the conversation over the past few years.
Yea, four kids whatever, now I’m Lady Young!
To be fair I think it was a bit of a gag. When Toby talked of his home life it sounded pretty grounded. Even if he did brainwash his kids into becoming fans of the hopeless QPR.
It’s an ingrained British characteristic, which survives even the assumption of another nationality. One only has to observe @charlescwcooke’s affinity for the hapless Jacksonville Jag-u-ars.
I’m counting on African Christian missionaries to re-evangelize Europe someday as well.