So long, hereditary peers but the Lords is still full of absurd anachronisms | Polly Toynbee

"The Tory leader in the Lords, the misnamed Lord True, went full Tony Soprano, threatening to stop all government business unless Labour compromised. In the Sunday Telegraph, he warned that if the purge of the hereditary peers continued, the Conservatives would obstruct legislative proceedings, demonstrating the extent of resistance to democratic reform."

"Labour should be making much more noise about how the Tories blackmailed and threatened to the very last to hold on to the hereditary peerage (almost all Tories), despite 66% of voters wanting a democratically elected second chamber. Tories in the Lords, fully backed by Kemi Badenoch, did that despite the abolition pledged in Labour's manifesto."

"Lord Hamilton's searing honesty revealed that a reason to keep the hereditaries was that once they were gone there would be nothing other than political chancers, like me, and donors and members of the blob of one sort or another, exposing the self-serving nature of arguments defending hereditary privilege."

The House of Lords voted to remove hereditary peers, predominantly Conservative members, marking a significant constitutional change. Despite 66% of voters supporting a democratically elected second chamber and Labour's manifesto pledge to abolish hereditary peerage, Conservative peers mounted fierce resistance. The Conservatives, led by Kemi Badenoch and Lord True, violated the Salisbury convention—which requires the Lords to approve government manifesto commitments—and used threats to obstruct government business. Hereditary peers offered contradictory justifications for their retention, including claims about legitimacy and employment discrimination concerns. The removal represents a departure from constitutional convention and highlights the absurdity of arguments defending hereditary privilege in modern governance.

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