Non-affiliated members of the House of Lords

Non-affiliated members of the House of Lords are peers who do not belong to any parliamentary group in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom. They do not take a political party's whip, nor affiliate to the crossbench group, nor are they Lords Spiritual (active Church of England bishops). Formerly, the law lords were also a separate affiliation, but their successors (justices of the Supreme Court), if peers, are disqualified from sitting in the Lords until they no longer hold a judicial position.^[1]

Most non-party Lords Temporal are crossbenchers. Peers may also be required to sit as non-affiliated while they hold certain senior positions within the Lords (e.g. the senior deputy speaker), as a means to preserve the neutrality of their official roles. Some members become non-affiliated after resigning or being expelled from a party, either through a political disagreement or after a scandal such as the 2009 parliamentary expenses scandal. Others have had no party allegiance and chose this designation rather than joining the crossbench.^[2]

A member who is elected as Lord Speaker must withdraw from any party affiliation,^[3] but is not considered to be a non-affiliated peer. Former lord speakers have sat as crossbenchers after holding office.

Non-affiliated members

The UK Parliament website lists the following non-affiliated members of the House of Lords, including those not currently eligible to sit in the Lords:^[4]

Member	Previous affiliation	Reason for change
Lord Allan of Hallam	Liberal Democrat
Baroness Altmann	Conservative
Lord Ashton of Hyde	Conservative
Lord Austin of Dudley	Labour	Joined Lords without party affiliation
Lord Boyd of Duncansby	none	Currently ineligible as a Senator of the College of Justice
Lord Brennan	Labour
Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill	none	Currently ineligible as Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales
Lord Cashman	Labour	Withdrawn from Labour whip following criticism of Rosie Duffield during her 2024 campaign for her Parliament seat[5]
Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen	Conservative
Lord Cooper of Windrush	Conservative	Suspended from party whip after expressing support for Liberal Democrats in 2019 European Parliament elections
Lord Darzi of Denham	Labour	Resigned from party whip in July 2019 in protest of the party's response to antisemitism complaints[6]
Lord Davies of Abersoch	Labour
Lord Faulks	Conservative
Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee	Democratic Unionist	Joined Lords without party affiliation
Baroness Fox of Buckley	Brexit	Joined Lords without party affiliation
Lord Gadhia	Conservative
Lord Gardiner of Kimble	Conservative	Senior Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords (2021–present)
Lord Grade of Yarmouth	Conservative	Chairman of Ofcom
Lord Harrington of Watford	Conservative
Baroness Hoey	Labour	Joined Lords without party affiliation
Baroness Lampard	Conservative
Lord Livingston of Parkhead	Conservative
Lord Lupton	Conservative
Baroness McGregor-Smith	Conservative
Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate	Labour	Following return from suspension from the House in connection with lobbying scandal[citation needed]
Lord Moore of Etchingham	none	Joined Lords without party affiliation
Baroness Morgan of Cotes	Conservative
Baroness Moyo	Conservative
Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay	Liberal Democrat	Resigned from party whip in protest of party leadership[7]
Lord Paddick	Liberal Democrat	Withdrew from Liberal Democrat whip during his advisory role with the Metropolitan Police[8]
Lord Patel of Bradford	Labour
Lord Paul	Labour	Following return from suspension from the House in connection with expenses scandal[citation needed]
Lord Pearson of Rannoch	UKIP	Resigned from party whip in protest of party leadership during Brexit negotiations
Lord Redesdale	Liberal Democrat
Lord Rosenfield	none	Joined Lords without party affiliation
Lord Stone of Blackheath	Labour	Suspended from party whip due to misconduct[9]
Lord Strathcarron	Conservative
Lord Taylor of Warwick	Conservative	Following return from suspension from the House in connection with expenses scandal and imprisonment for false accounting[citation needed]
Lord Truscott	Labour	Resigned from party whip following the "cash for influence" allegations of 2009[citation needed]
Lord Tyrie	Conservative	Entered the House without affiliation due to his role as Chairman of the Competition and Markets Authority
Baroness Uddin	Labour	Following return from suspension from the House in connection with expenses scandal[citation needed]
Baroness Vadera	Labour
Lord Verdirame	none	Joined Lords without party affiliation
Baroness Warsi	Conservative

Independent members

There are other peers who list themselves as Independent within the House of Lords:

Member	Previous affiliation	Designation	Notes
Lord Maginnis of Drumglass	Ulster Unionist Party	Independent Ulster Unionist	Resigned from party whip following homophobic remarks[10] Currently suspended from the Lords
Lord Stevens of Ludgate	UKIP	Conservative Independent	Expelled from Conservative whip in 2004 for supporting UKIP,[11] sat as Conservative Independent until 2012

See also

• Members of the House of Lords