Lords Diary: Lord Cormack
Left to right: Mayor of Lincoln, Jackie Kirk, with Lord Cormack
4 min read
As I sit down to write this at the beginning of Holy Week, I look from my desk towards our great Lincoln cathedral and look forward to a series of solemn services and glorious music, culminating in the joys of Easter Day.
It is good to have a pause before the final week of a hectic session. As we look forward to the State Opening on 10 May I can only hope that the government will not submerge us in further ill-prepared over-lengthy legislation in the new session. All the heavy lifting, by way of scrutiny, falls upon our House, as it has increasingly since 1998 when the government decided that all legislation should be timetabled in the Commons.
But at least I have one pre-Recess joy that I shall look back to until my dying day. On the 25 March Lincoln City Council bestowed upon me the highest honour it can give, namely the Freedom of the ancient City of Lincoln.
It was a marvellous sunny morning when we made our way down to the 15th century Guildhall in Stonebow, on the site of the Roman East Gate of the city, and of the medieval gate which replaced it and through which the troops of Louis the Dauphin fled in disarray on 20 May 1217 having been defeated in the decisive Battle of Lincoln.
When we arrived at the Guildhall the town crier was standing on the steps. Before the ceremony began the “oyez” rang out as she announced the proceedings in the Guildhall, where the robed council had been summoned by the very same bell which has called them to meetings since 1377.
The session was formally called to order by the mayor, immaculately robed. She then proposed the motion which was seconded in a most generous and witty speech by the Labour leader of the council, Ric Metcalfe, who pulled my political leg in a most good-humoured way a couple of times. And then, much to my relief, the motion was passed unanimously. I replied not only to the council but to the assembled group of invited guests and friends including our lord lieutenant and a number of Lincolnshire friends, old and new, among them Baroness Hogg and Lord Taylor of Holbeach. He many, many years ago, succeeded me as chairman of the Lincolnshire Young Conservatives.
I can only hope that the government will not submerge us in further ill-prepared over-lengthy legislation in the new session
It was a formal but very warm occasion and Mary and I and our younger son, Richard, genuinely felt enveloped by the wonderfully affectionate spirit of the day. There have been a number of red-letter days in my long political career, from the moment my successful election as MP for Cannock was announced on 19 June 1970 following the previous day’s general election. But it is in no way downgrading any of those wonderful days to say that this was very much the most personal and, for me, moving occasion.
Lincolnshire is my home county. I first visited the cathedral, taken by my parents on a green double decker bus, in 1946. Lincoln was the natural place to come to live when I stood down from the Commons because it would have been completely wrong to remain active in politics and to continue living in my then old constituency of South Staffordshire.
Regiments and RAF stations have been given the Freedom but I am only the 19th individual upon whom it has been bestowed since 1891. The first was Joseph Ruston, whose firm built the first tank in 1917.
I just pray that I will have the opportunity to continue my work as chairman of the Historic Lincoln Trust and president of Heritage Lincolnshire for many years to come. It is a great city. If you have not been I shall be seeking to arrange a visit for peers – already twice postponed because of Covid – later in the year.
Lord Cormack is a Conservative peer and life president of The House magazine
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