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The irony is that after seeing off the latest attempted Lords reform that would have forced him to leave, Lord Strathclyde is going of his own accord.
He is being replaced by Lord Hill who is new to the Lords but old to politics. He was made a peer only in 2010 but began his political life at the Conservative research department in the 1980s.
Lord Hill is one of a select group of survivors from the Downing Street bunker in the 1990s, helping John Major to win the 1992 election before serving as his political secretary.
Crucially, he was the No 10 point man during the Maastricht rebellion, so he will be in a good position to advise Mr Cameron on how to handle Tory dissent over Europe.
Since then Lord Hill has worked in public affairs for firms like Bell Pottinger and Quiller Consultants. In a previous life, he was a special adviser to his new cabinet colleague Ken Clarke when he was at education and health.
The key to understanding Lord Hill, I am told, is that he is a backroom deliverer. Where Lord Strathclyde pacified a troublesome Lords with jovial good humour, Lord Hill will instead use softly spoken reason. He will need it.
Update: Labour would, of course, question Lord Strathclyde’s success in his job, pointing out that he has presided over 59 government defeats in the Lords since 2010.
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