UK: New Law to Remove Last of Hereditary Lords from Parliament

The government is proposing to banish all remaining hereditary peers from the House of Lords in the biggest shake-up of parliament in a quarter century.

The UK’s 92 remaining hereditary peers – who have inherited their titles from their parents – will lose their right to sit and vote in the upper chamber under proposals put forward by ministers on Thursday.

The move would complete reforms first made by Tony Blair’s government, which revoked the 700-year-old right of all hereditary peers to sit in the Lords in 1999. Just 92 of them, elected from the whole group, were allowed to remain until an agreement could be reached to phase them out altogether.

All 92 hereditary peers who now hold seats in the Lords are white men, and their average age is just under 70. They have continued to top up their numbers by holding byelections when one of them retires or dies.

Campaigners have long called for the system to be overhauled. In its manifesto, Labour said the continued existence of hereditary peers was “indefensible”.

The government’s bill will mean that there will no longer be any hereditary peers in the upper chamber. The earl marshal and the lord great chamberlain, who had been expected to keep their seats because of their ceremonial functions, will also be removed.

The bill is likely to become law sometime next year, and will fulfil a Labour manifesto commitment.

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Britain: Government in crisis as Parliament rejects attack on Syria

In a stunning rebuke, the House of Commons has voted decisively not to endorse a military strike on Syria. Significant numbers of Conservative (Tory) MPs joined the opposition Labor Party in voting against authorization for armed intervention. This is being seen as a major revolt on the part of Tory backbenchers and it has called into question the viability of Mr. Cameron's Government. After the vote, Mr. Miliband, the Leader of the Opposition, asked the Prime Minister if he would give his assurance to the House that he would not invoke the Royal Prerogative and attack without the support of Parliament. To which the Prime Minister answered in the affirmative saying he understood and respected the sentiment of the House.

This is a HUGE blow to the Prime Minister and there is a sense of political crisis as open questions are now being raised about the degree of support Mr. Cameron has within his own party. It is also worth noting that the Tories do not have a majority in the House of Commons but are governing in a Coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

The bottom line is that the British Government is not going to be joining any attack on Syria anytime soon and that Mr. Cameron's position as Prime Minister is almost certainly no longer safe. Calls for his resignation and or the dissolution of Parliament with an early election are expected imminently.

Britain: The Lords Stand Against Populist Tyranny

Lords from all main political parties will unite next week in a last-ditch attempt to block the Government’s introduction of gay marriage.

Peers expect the Upper’s House debate over same sex weddings will go through the night or even into a second day, with a key vote that could scupper the policy regarded as “too close to call”.

The former head of the British army Lord Dannatt and Lord Lothian, a former Conservative Party chairman better known as Michael Ancram, are amongst those set to criticise the draft legislation in next Monday’s session.

Other opponents will include Lord Waddington, a former Home Secretary, Lord Luce, who served as a minister in Baroness Thatcher’s government, and Lord Singh of Wimbledon, a respected figure in the Sikh community.

The Sunday Telegraph has also established that the senior Tory Baroness Warsi, a practising Muslim, refused to lead the bill through the House of Lords when asked to do so by David Cameron, the Prime Minister.

Some peers believe dozens [of] Lords who rarely attend Parliament will flock to Westminster to make their position on homosexual marriage clear.

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One wonders, is this the last gasp of the House of Lords? This latest and most vulgar expression of populist tyranny is the best argument in years for why we need an unelected component in government that can say "No, you can't have this because it's a bad idea" to the people. Thank God for the Peerage and confusion to all forms of damnable Whiggery!