Lords V Commons 2011

"The 37th match between the House of Commons and the House of Lords for the Jack Perry Trophy was held at the Portland Club, London last Friday. The Commons were depleted as the last general election had seen retirements and defeats for several MPs, but they came out fighting and had a useful lead at the halfway stage.

A second half revival saw the Lords run out winners and increase their lead in the series to 20-17.

The match, sponsored each year by Stephen Perry and London Export features a trophy for the best bid, played or defended hand. The Anthony Berry Trophy, judged by EBU Vice-President Tony Priday. who attended the very first match, was won by Baroness Byford for her bidding to an excellent 6D, played with skill."

Lords Team: Lord Skelmersdale, Baroness Oppenheim-Barnes, Lord Harrison, Baroness Billingham, Lord May of Oxford, Baroness Henig (Captain), Earl of Caithness, and Baroness Byford. Well done to them.

Report by Jeremy Dhondy. The match was sponsored by Stephen Perry of London Export Ltd in memory of his father Jack whose name is on the match trophy.

• Photos

Lords versus Commons Match 2010

by Jeremy Dhondy

The 2010 House of Lords vs House of Commons Match was held early in the year because of the forthcoming General Election. It was, as usual, sponsored by Stephen Perry of London Export Corporation Ltd in memory of his father Jack whose name is on the match trophy. The hospitality organised at the venue, the Portland Club was up to its usual high standard.


The Lords built up an sizeable early lead and hung on to win by a comfortable margin to make the overall score 19-17 to the Lords. It is likely that whatever the result of the election the Commons are going to have to look for some new blood if they are to challenge the Lord’s in 2011.


An excellent set of hands together with commentary was produced by Paul Bowyer.


The Sir Anthony Berry Trophy for the best bid or played hand of the day went to Evan Harris MP (Liberal Democrat, Oxford West and Abingdon) for his play to make 3NT when the slightest slip in technique would have led to defeat.


In the photo (below), left to right, the winners: Lord May, Lord Skelmersdale, Baroness Billingham, Lord Baker, Baroness Henig (captain), last-minute substitute Jack Johnstone (Lady Henig’s husband), the Earl of Caithnesss and Lord Harrison.

Lords versus Commons Match 2009

Commons win for the first time since 2005

The House of Commons Team were successful for the first time in four years at the 35th annual House of Lords versus House of Commons match played at Crockford’s Club on Friday December 4th. Their win cuts the Upper House lead to 18-17.

An exciting set of boards was produced by Paul Bowyer together with commentary and Lord Kalms found an excellent lead to defeat 3NT on an early board but Nick Palmer (Lab, Broxtowe) and John Hemming (Lib Dem, Birmingham Yardley) helped the Commons to a lunchtime lead when they bid a good 6♦ played very competently by John Hemming to make when trumps didn’t break kindly.

After an excellent lunch one might have expected the standard to slip a bit but it didn’t and the Commons added to their lead and went into the final set leading by 2690 points.

The Commons captain Michael Mates (Conservative, East Hampshire) remarked that his team had once blown a lead of 3000 with two sets to play but didn’t see how they could do the same with only one set to play. Fairly shortly the computerised scoreboard showed that the Commons majority had been slashed to 280. As fingernails were being bitten however a fine defence by the captain himself restored a more healthy lead and the Commons ran out winners by 2800 aggregate points over the 28 board match which was played in fine spirit.

Michael Mates accepted the Jack Perry Trophy on behalf of the winners and also won the Sir Anthony Berry Trophy which is awarded for the best bridge moment, adjudicated by Jeremy Dhondy, for his excellent defence mentioned above to beat a game contract made at the other tables.











Winning team (L-R: Evan Harris, Tony McWalter, Nick Palmer, Michael Mates, John Marek, John Hemming, Bridget Prentice, Robin Squire).

The House of Lords team were: Lord Skelmersdale, Lady Oppenheim-Barnes, Lord Baker, Lord Kalms, Lord Harrison, Lady Billingham, Lord May of Oxford, Lady Henig)

Report by Jeremy Dhondy. The match was sponsored by Stephen Perry of London Export Ltd in memory of his father Jack whose name is on the match trophy.

Lords V Commons match 2008

View Andrew Robson's report here.

Lords V Commons 2007

The annual Lords v Commons match took place on Friday 11th May at Crockfords Club in Mayfair. Click here for a photo gallery.

This was the 33rd match of the series (started in 1975) and a resounding win by the Lords has put them ahead 17 - 16.

A sound start by the Commons put them 1480 ahead after the first stanza but this soon disappeared as the Lords hit back with +2460 to lead by 980 at lunch. Another +2460 in the third stanza put the Lords well ahead and they followed this with +1380 to win the match by 4820.

Michael Phillips of London Export Ltd (the sponsors) presented the Jack Perry Trophy to the winning captain, Lord Skelmersdale.

Lord May and Lady Henig had the best card for the winners with a score of +2295 against par. The best performers for the losing side were John Marek and Bridget Prentice.

The adjudication of the best played hand was made by Andrew Robson and he awarded the Anthony Berry Memorial Trophy to Lord Caithness.

Many thanks are due to Stephen Perry of London Export for the sponsorship and to Crockfords Club for hosting the day.

Peter Jordan (EBU)