The Beyoncé of the House of Lords won the vote for her rights to equal pay by referencing the queen of pop.
Baroness Tina Stowell, AKA the Beyoncé of the House of Lords, has figured out the fail-safe way to win a majority vote in Parliament. Pop culture.
During a 90-minute debate over David Cameron’s initial decision to dock her pay and remove some of her rights as the new leader of the House of Lords, Stowell referenced Beyoncé and won the vote to rebuke the prime minister’s decision 177 to 29. That’s a whopping 148 majority.
'I'm an independent woman and a single lady. My noble Lords might want to think of me as the Beyoncé of your Lordships' House,' she said.
The Baroness is receiving £22K less than her male predecessor, to do exactly the same job, and she has been refused the higher rank of a full cabinet member. Is it too late to remind everyone that this is 2014?
Lady Boothroyd, the former speaker of the house, said of Cameron’s decision during the debate:
‘He has trampled on the constitution and he has discarded the principle of equal pay at the same time quite frankly. It won’t do.’
Though Stowell’s been hit hard by the Prime Minister’s decision to give her less pay and remove her cabinet rank, she went on and brushed her shoulders off:
‘I am Leader of this House. While my Lords may be concerned about my ministerial rank, nothing changes that simple fact. Nothing has changed in practice...I will do the job of Leader in exactly the same way as all my predecessors,’ she said.
And this isn’t the first time Lady Stowell has used a pop culture reference to sway voters.
‘Perhaps I should declare from the outset that I am not married, and as long as George Clooney is still available I am prepared to wait,’ she said when she opened the debate on same-sex marriage last year. ‘But even though I am single—and I of all people understand that not everyone wants to get married—I believe in the institution of marriage.’
Right on, Lady Stowell.