The UK’s 92 remaining hereditary peers are to lose their right to sit and vote in the House of Lords under proposals being put forward by the government. The change, which will probably take effect next year, has been billed as the biggest parliamentary reform in a quarter of a century.
It will round off changes begun by Tony Blair’s government in 1999, which revoked a 700-year-old right for all peers to sit on and vote from the red benches. Blair excluded 667 hereditary peers from the upper chamber and allowed only 92 of them, elected from the whole group, to continue doing so pending further changes.
Some of the remaining rump of hereditary peers who are now set to lose their seats can trace their family’s presence in the Lords back to the middle ages. All of them are men, thanks to titles that can be passed only to male heirs, all are white and most are over the age of 70. Of the 92 hereditary peers, 42 are Conservatives and 28 are crossbenchers.
Among those affected by the changes are the earl marshal and the lord great chamberlain. Though they will retain their offices and ceremonial roles at state events, they will lose their right to sit and vote in the upper chamber.
Charles Peregrine Courtenay, 19th Earl of Devon
Courtenay, a relatively youthful peer at 49, was educated at Eton and Cambridge and trained as a barrister. In what was seen as an act of rebellion he married the actor AJ Langer, a former Baywatch star, after they met in a casino bar in Las Vegas. The couple lived together first in California and later at his sprawling 700-year-old Powderham Castle before announcing their divorce last year, citing irreconcilable differences. This summer, Courtenay said sitting in the Lords as a non-aligned hereditary peer had been a “privilege” and argued that replacing it with a second elected chamber would be “complete disaster” that would upend the UK’s constitutional system.
William Stonor, 8th Baron Camoys
Stonor, also 49, is the newest hereditary peer to take up a seat in the Lords, having won a hereditary peers byelection in 2023. In his brief election manifesto, he cited 26 years’ experience working in investment and foreign affairs, including his time running a business advising on western engagement in China. A Conservative, he has worked in the Foreign Office on Afghanistan, Iran, India and counter-terrorism, and is chair of a Nepalese nature conservation charity. He was one of the founders of Marlow Film Studios, a development project for a film studio on a former quarry in Buckinghamshire that was backed by the Titanic director, James Cameron, for which planning permission was rejected last spring.
John Russell, 7th Earl Russell
A former Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate and campaign manager, 52-year-old Russell won a byelection to take up a seat in the Lords in 2023. He is a grandson of the philosopher and Nobel laureate Bertrand Russell and a great-great-grandson of John Russell, the former Liberal prime minister. He moonlights as a freelance photographer specialising in political events and conferences and, unusually for a hereditary peer, he has a frontbench role for his party as a spokesperson on energy and climate change.
Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk
Educated at Ampleforth College and Oxford, Fitzalan-Howard, 67, has been a crossbench peer since 2003 and is the highest-ranking duke in England. As such he holds the office of earl marshal, which means he has a ceremonial role at state events including the opening of parliament, coronations and state funerals. In 2022 he unsuccessfully tried to argue that his role in organising the king’s coronation should exempt him from a driving ban after he was caught using his phone while running a red light. During his 21 years as a crossbench peer, he has voted 12 times – seven of which related to hunting – made no speeches and asked no written questions. His seat is Arundel Castle in Sussex, dating back to the 11th century.
Rupert Carington, 7th Baron Carrington
Carington, 75, became lord great chamberlain of England in 2022 when King Charles III acceded to the throne. He is in charge of the arrangements whenever the monarch visits parliament, and in recognition of that role he has a symbolic gold key to the palace at the hip of his uniform. He is also responsible for the royal parts of parliament, including the Royal Gallery and the Robing Room, and plays a part in overseeing the 900-year-old Westminster Hall.
• This article was amended on 5 September 2024 to correct the spelling of Rupert Carington’s surname; the Carrington spelling is only used in his title, 7th Baron Carrington.
