Lord Hurd said the commission had not decided to back the abolition of hereditary peers.

BBC: News | UK Politics | Lords reform - any ideas?

Lord Hurd, a former home secretary and former chairman of the Prison Reform Trust, also believes that jail is not the right answer for many of these women.

ECONOMIST: Prisons

Also shortlisted were contributions from actor Richard E Grant, US prosecutor Kenneth Starr for the Starr Report and former Home Secretary, Lord Hurd, who this year chaired the judging panel of the Booker Prize.

BBC: Faulks beats Starr in bad sex award