Dear Sir,
There is even more to the bizarre story of Baroness Stowell , the first Lords Leader without a Cabinet seat, and the Chancellorship of the Duchy of Lancaster than Charles Moore indicates (The Spectator’s Notes, 26 July).
The proposed salary top-up from Tory party funds, subsequently abandoned in the face of an outcry in the Lords, was pointless in the first place. Under the Ministerial and other Salaries Act 1975 any payment made to the holder of the office from outside sources leads automatically to a corresponding reduction in the amount provided by Parliament.
Neither that legislation or any other prevents the Chancellor of the Duchy being paid out of party funds. So there was no legal reason why Mr Cameron should not have stood by his original plan instead of getting her to swop with Mr Letwin to whom the Privy Seal had been offered. Equally there is no reason why they should not swop back again. It would be a pity not to add further to this comedy of political errors.
Yours faithfully
Alistair Lexden
House of Lords
(Published in The Spectator)