The House of Lords Act of 1999 removed the right of most hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords. Most, but not all. But whereas the previous edition of the guide listed 1,295 peers, of whom 759 were hereditary peers, this edition lists 670. Of these, 525 are life peers, created under the 1958 Life Peerages Act; 27 are life peers created as law lords under the 1876 Appellate Jurisdiction Act; 26 are Lords Spiritual; and 92 are hereditary peers as provided for under the 1999 Act. Before 1958, there were no women members of the House of Lords, but this volume now lists 105, of whom 100 are life peers and five are hereditary. All these changes make this vade mecum timely and necessary.
To the ordinary voter it seems illogical that 92 hereditary peers were allowed to retain their seats. If the principle were to be adopted at all, it would seem reasonable to have abolished all the hereditary peers at one fell swoop. Furthermore, the electorate still has no control over life peerages, these being decided by the political parties. This is not to say that the House of Lords does not have an important place in the government of the country. It has, and it has proved it on many occasions. But given that a second chamber is a necessary feature of government, it would be more democratic if all its members were directly elected by the voters. Perhaps the time may come when this becomes the case.
Meanwhile, we are stuck with the House of Lords as created by the latest legislation, and this volume is a comprehensive guide to it. Baroness Jay of Paddington is the Leader of the House of Lords, and she writes a thoughtful introduction to this volume. She cannot resist pointing out that although the balance between the political parties has changed, Labour still has 30 fewer than the Conservatives. The underlining is hers, not mine. There are hints, not only in Baroness Jay’s introduction, but also in later pages, that in the fullness of time, Parliament’s second chamber may become a senate, directly chosen by the electorate.
Following the Baroness’s introduction there are 28 pages full of extremely useful information. Here will be found details about attendance and leave of absence, officers and officials, expenses and salaries of members, a brief history of the House, and many other matters of detail.
But the main body of the book consists of a directory of all the members. Under each one named, information is provided as to the type of peerage they hold, their political allegiance, when they were created, their dates of birth, education, their professional and political careers, their subject interests, their recreational interests, and their addresses for correspondence. There are separate alphabetical lists of hereditary and elected peers, another list arranged by political parties, and details of government and opposition spokesmen in the House of Lords. That is not all. Towards the end of the Guide there is information on the languages spoken by peers, books written by them, and directorships and consultancies held.
All this makes the volume an essential addition to the reference shelves of libraries, for it is difficult to imagine any question about members of the House of Lords which could not be answered by recourse to this Guide.
