NO, I’m not the Messiah (but I have occasionally been a naughty boy), despite being referred to as “Christ” in Peter J Brown’s response (HAS, Sept 30) to my previous letter (HAS, Sept 7) about the late Sir Cyril Smith.

However, I do agree with Mr Brown that Sir Cyril, my good friend, was too independent and too outspoken to be allowed in the House of Lords.

When we get an elected House of Lords (as in the Coalition Agreement), the voters – and not the establishment – will decide who goes there. No longer will peerages be given as political favours, and the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the Lords will finally be abolished.

Chris Foote-Wood, Middlesbrough.

■ Apologies over the name error which occurred during editing