Having a non-elected second chamber is obviously bonkers

“Having a non-elected second chamber is obviously bonkers but and you know what right of any of us got to be there.

“But it’s also a place where laws are actually made and there’s too little scrutiny by the public because they think it’s all happening in the Commons, but actually a lot of things happening in the Lords.

“So I’ve ended up having to take it all very seriously because if I am there I feel as though I’ve got. I can’t just let things sail through without speaking.”

Asked about being a member in the House of Lords compared to serving as an MEP in the European Parliament, Fox’s assessment was that: “I think in the sense that there’s as much hot air, that’s definitely true.

“It’s grander posher building than the kind of modernism that we saw in Brussels and Strasbourg. It’s slightly less alien only – only in this much – this is a place that Parliament is seated there and although the Lords probably should have gone when we had the Glorious Revolution, as it were. Cromwell should have got rid of it completely. All of that’s true.

“You also feel as though you’re part of a British tradition. So I don’t want to be too gloom about it.

“Obviously it I didn’t ever feel like that when we were in Brussels and Strasburg. I mean it just was like what on earth are we doing here?

“But I do think it’s got some similarities, which is that it gets used as a place where the government can blame the Lords for things that it’s not prepared to own up to.

“It’ll say, ‘oh, the Lord’s forced us to change that bill’ and they were forever doing that about the EU. Government Ministers would blame the EU for everything.

“Whereas often what would happen was that British politicians would go over to Brussels, say we’ve got a good idea, but we don’t want those grubby voters having a say on it. Can we bring it in this way? And then we’ll tell them we’ve got no choice.

“There’s an element of that in terms of the Lords, I can see.”