Non-affiliated members of the House of Lords


Members of the House of Lords are said to be non-affiliated if they do not belong to any parliamentary group. That is, they do not take a political party's whip, nor affiliate to the crossbench group, nor the Lords Spiritual. Formerly, the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary were also a separate affiliation, but their successors are now disqualified from the Lords while in office and are described as "Ineligible" rather than "Non-affiliated".
Most non-party Lords Temporal are crossbenchers. Members with senior official roles are counted as non-affiliated while they hold them, to preserve their neutrality; they may affiliate to a group at the end of their term of office. 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 choose this designation rather than joining the crossbench.
Although the Lord Speaker must drop any party affiliation upon their election, they are not considered as a non-affiliated peer.

List of Non-affiliated Peers

The UK Parliament website lists the following ’Non-affiliated’ members of the House of Lords, excluding those on leave of absence or suspended:
MemberPrevious affiliationReason for change
Lord AhmedLabourResigned following allegation of antisemitism
ConservativeExpelled following imprisonment for perjury
Baroness Ashton of UphollandLabour
Lord BhatiaCrossbenchFollowing return from suspension from the House in connection with expenses scandal
Lord Boswell of AynhoConservativePrincipal Deputy Chairman of Committees
Lord BrennanLabour
Lord Carter of BarnesLabour
Lord CashmanLabourLeft Labour Party to support the Liberal Democrats in the 2019 European Parliament elections
Lord Cooper of WindrushConservativeSuspended from party whip after expressing support for Liberal Democrats in 2019 European Parliament elections
Lord Darzi of DenhamLabourResigned from party whip in July 2019 in protest of the party's response to antisemitism complaints
Lord Davies of AbersochLabour
Lord Elis-ThomasPlaid Cymru
Baroness Falkner of MargravineLiberal Democrat
Lord FaulksConservative
Lord GadhiaConservative
Lord Green of HurstpierpointConservative
Lord HanningfieldConservativeBriefly suspended from the House following criminal conviction for false accounting
Lord HeseltineConservativeSuspended from party whip after expressing support for Liberal Democrats in 2019 European Parliament elections
Lord Holmes of RichmondConservative
Lord InglewoodConservativeExcepted hereditary peer elected to Lords by Conservative hereditary peers
Lord KalmsConservativeExpelled after supporting UKIP in 2009 European elections
Baroness Kennedy of CradleyLabour
Earl of KinnoullCrossbenchExcepted hereditary peer elected to Lords by Crossbench hereditary peers
Lord Lea of CrondallLabourSuspended from party whip due to misconduct
Lord LuptonConservative
Lord McFall of AlcluithLabourSenior Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords
Lord Mackenzie of FramwellgateLabourFollowing return from suspension from the House in connection with lobbying scandal
Lord MannLabour
Lord MoonieLabourResigned from party whip following suspension by party over accusations of transphobia
Duke of NorfolkCrossbenchEarl Marshal
Earl of Oxford and AsquithLiberal DemocratExcepted hereditary peer elected to Lords by whole House vote
Lord Patel of BradfordLabour
Lord PaulLabourFollowing return from suspension from the House in connection with expenses scandal
Lord Pearson of RannochUKIPResigned from party whip in protest of party leadership during Brexit negotiations
Lord Prior of BramptonConservative
Baroness Ritchie of DownpatrickSocial Democratic
and Labour Party		Withdrew from SDLP due to party policy regarding House of Lords
Lord Smith of FinsburyLabour
Lord Stone of BlackheathLabourSuspended from party whip due to misconduct
Baroness Stowell of BeestonConservative
Lord Taylor of WarwickConservativeFollowing return from suspension from the House in connection with expenses scandal and imprisonment for false accounting
Baroness TongeLiberal DemocratResigned from party whip in 2012 after Israeli Apartheid Week comments
Lord TyrieConservativeEntered the House without affiliation due to his role as Chairman of the Competition and Markets Authority
Baroness UddinLabourFollowing return from suspension from the House in connection with expenses scandal
Duke of WellingtonConservativeExcepted hereditary peer elected to Lords by Conservative hereditary peers
Baroness WheatcroftConservative
Lord Willoughby de BrokeUKIPExcepted hereditary peer elected to Lords by Conservative hereditary peers
Also previously switched affiliation to UK Independence Party
Baroness Wolf of DulwichCrossbench

List of Independent Peers

There are other members listed with an ’Independent’ designation within the House of Lords:
MemberPrevious affiliationDesignationNotes
Baroness BlackstoneLabourLabour Independent
Ulster Unionist PartyIndependent Ulster UnionistResigned whip following homophobic remarks
Lord OwenCrossbenchIndependent Social DemocratLeft the Crossbench following a donation to Labour
Lord Stevens of LudgateUKIPConservative IndependentExpelled from the Conservatives in 2004 for supporting UKIP, then sat as Conservative Independent until 2012.
Lord Stoddart of SwindonLabourIndependent LabourExpelled after supporting a Socialist Alliance candidate in the 2001 general election
Lord TruscottLabourIndependent LabourResigned following the "cash for influence" allegations of 2009