Keir Starmer Has Destroyed a British Tradition

On April 29, an important part of British parliamentary history came to an end after nearly 800 years. Hereditary peers — those 88 who were there by right of ancestry — were expelled from the House of Lords by Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government, with barely a word of thank-you for their and their families’ service. Although it is some consolation that 26 of them were subsequently granted life peerages, allowing them to continue sitting in the Lords, the rest are out of luck, and the symbolism of Starmer’s move remains.

Hereditary peers had been sitting in the House of Lords, Britain’s upper house, since Simon de Montfort founded Parliament in 1265, although the right of hereditary earls to sit in the Saxon parliament, the Witan, can be traced back another 400 years or so further. There was a short break under Oliver Cromwell’s Interregnum period in the 1650s, but otherwise it has been continuous.

About the Author

Andrew Roberts

Andrew Roberts is the author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny and a member of the House of Lords.

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On April 29, an important part of British parliamentary history came to an end after nearly 800 years. Hereditary peers — those 88 who were there by right of ancestry — were expelled from the House of Lords by Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government, with barely a word of thank-you for their and their families’ service. Although it is some consolation that 26 of them were subsequently granted life peerages, allowing them to continue sitting in the Lords, the rest are out of luck, and the symbolism of Starmer’s move remains.

Hereditary peers had been sitting in the House of Lords, Britain’s upper house, since Simon de Montfort founded Parliament in 1265, although the right of hereditary earls to sit in the Saxon parliament, the Witan, can be traced back another 400 years or so further. There was a short break under Oliver Cromwell’s Interregnum period in the 1650s, but otherwise it has been continuous.