Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Buy Your Very Own Virtual Peerage

I support Elect the Lords, the campaign for an elected House of Lords. They have just sent me this email.

Did you know that 17 of the 22 individuals who have donated £100,000 or more to Labour in the last few years have been given an honour, and that all but one who have donated more than £1m has been given a peerage?This has given the Elect the Lords campaign a great fundraising idea - why not sell Virtual Peerages? A Virtual Peerage won't get you a vote in the House of Lords. You won't get any land (on the other hand it also means you won't be expected to open any village fetes!). You will however gain an attractive certificate of inauthenticity and your full title will be listed on this website as a mark of our gratitude.Purchase a Marquisate or a Duchy and we will even design you a Coat of Arms using the traditional method of Ye Olde Photoshoppe handed down the generation.Back in the real world, your money will be spent on campaigning for a democratic second chamber. The government have promised a free vote on the composition of the upper house in this Parliament - it could be just months away! We urgently need funds to ensure we can put pressure on MPs to respect the opinions of the vast majority of UK citizens who want the second chamber to be at least predominantly elected.Tony Blair has appointed more than 300 life peers - 50% more than any other Prime Minister in history. We're hoping to beat that record by appointing more than 300 virtual peers in the next MONTH.Donating money to us in this way won't "buy" you a democratic second chamber, but you can be sure it will be a great help!As an introductory offer, we are currently offering a 25% discount on all Virtual Peerages. As an exclusive offer to supporters, we are offering an extra 10% off on top of that! But hurry - this offer must end on 22 March!Click on one of the options below to make your purchase (you will be taken to the PayPal website for processing your payment):
Buy a Baronetcy for just £7.50 £6.50
Buy a Viscountcy for just £22.50 £19.50
Buy an Earldom for just £75 £65
Buy a Marquesatecy for just £225 £195 (limited to 50)
Buy a Duchy for just £750 £650 (limited to 20)

The Elect the Lords campaign regrets that it cannot accept a loan as payment.

As do I!

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