Campaign group Republic has responded to the news of David Cameron's appointment to the House of Lords by calling for its abolition.

The group has long argued that a republic must include a written constitution and elected upper house.

Republic's CEO, Graham Smith, said today:

"This appointment joins a string of recent outrages that remind us of the urgent need to ditch the Lords in favour of an elected upper house."

"The whole point of a parliamentary system is that government is drawn from those we’ve elected to parliament. Cabinet ministers must come from the Commons, where they can be held accountable by our elected representatives."

"If Cameron wants to return to cabinet he should seek election to parliament, not be parachuted in by a prime minister desperate to shore up his unpopular government."

"There is an increasing urgency to abolishing the House of Lords and replacing it with an elected upper house, one capable of standing up to the Commons and which is accountable to the voters."