Doreen Lawrence: What can the 'powerless' Lords really do for such a gritty campaigner? Around five per cent of the Lords are drawn from ethnic minorities - more than in the Commons. And more than 20 per cent of peers are women - roughly the same as the proportion of female MPs. Not bad for a chamber which has only admitted women since 1958. So no I don't think Baroness Lawrence will feel out of place. I'm more concerned about what opportunities she'll be given there. One long-established peer confides how frustrated he's become at how little it's possible to achieve in the Lords - and what a shock that sense of powerlessness will be to Baroness Lawrence. This is a woman who's made a huge difference without being a peer or member of parliament. Is there any chance at all she could make a difference on anything being part of the House of Lords? Absolutely not," he tells me bluntly. Peers frequently make speeches to a somnolent or empty chamber, and the chance of actually making a new law is slim to non-existent. "It's a lifestyle club," my disgruntled informant says, noting the expenses abuses unearthed in the aftermath of the MPs' own expenses scandal. The former Lords Leader Lord Strathclyde rejects that depiction of a moribund Upper Chamber, saying it can be well-attended. For question time sessions there's standing room only and you put questions to ministers who are obliged to give an answer. And therefore you get the government's view," he tells me. Doreen Lawrence will get a platform to pursue ministers on issues she cares passionately about, he argues. The House of Lords doesn't have a great deal of power but it wields influence with government, with civil servants, with other opinion formers and the media. Where peers do indeed have power is in amending legislation, keeping a check on the might of the Commons - as it did for example with the marathon all-night battle over terror legislation in 2005, or in taking a stand to protect trial by jury. Mostly, though, it has to be said that's mind-numbing work - "sitting in a committee for hours and hours, debating whether clause 76 should be changed to this and that," as my disgruntled peer puts it - better suited to a barrister rather than a campaigner and human rights advocate like Doreen Lawrence. Lord Strathclyde admits she'll have to adapt her campaigning instincts, and that the peers that succeed are those who skewer ministers with a "pointed stiletto ... building up consensus rather than belting them over the head with a huge great popular campaign." Baroness Lawrence will be a great addition to the House of Lords, but after years battling the establishment on behalf of her son, I hope she's not expecting to achieve rapid change from her new seat in the corridors of power. Good luck Mrs Lawrence.