[jonp888]

> he’s only been in the job a month or so, so replacing wouldn’t be a huge deal

He's way, way than more than just some guy who has been rail minister for a month, he's one of the most respected, perhaps the most respected transport executive in Britain(at least until yesterday). He's not an elected politician, he has worked professionally in rail transportation since 1975.

For 10 years he was Chief Executive of Transport for London which runs all public transport in London. Following that, for the past 10 years he was and still is Chairman of Network Rail, the organisation which is responsible for the entire British Railway Network. It's in this capacity that he sent the letter, not as a minister.

Unless this turns into some huge scandal, which seems unlikely, he'll be fine.

[prmoustache]

But he is working as a mafia leader. I don't think that is the kind of chief executive a democratic country needs.

[YeGoblynQueenne]

The United Kingdom is a monarchy [1]. Lord Peter Hendy is an un-elected member of the House of Lords.

______________

[1] More specifically, a Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Except it doesn't really have a constitution.

[mattmanser]

For non-UK residents, this is a perfectly normal thing that happens regularly[1]. For example the last government did it to David Cameron, who was not an elected MP at the time he was made foreign secretary.

To become a minister, that person needs to be an official politician. Part of the House of Commons or the House of Lords. So if a sitting UK government wants an expert in their cabinet who is not an MP, they ennoble them. They make the person a Lord to get them to be able to operate officially as a minister in the government.

For a fuller explanation see: https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/direct-m...

[1] i.e. a seemingly weird thing that the British do because of old traditions