Democracy in action

On the 23rd of June last year there was a most hotly contested election for a seat in the british parliament. The election was contested by a select bunch of 26 Lords, Viscounts, Earls and Dukes, and the leading candidates were Viscount Montgomery of Alemain (son of the bloke who saw off Rommel in Egypt) and the Earl of Effingham (a descendant of the bloke who crushed a rebellion by Thomas Wyatt the younger against Mary I in 1544). The electorate consisted of 28 assorted noblemen and women, who chose Viscount Montgomery.

Viscount Montgomery now sits in the House of Lords, the second chamber of the British Parliament. Any law passed by the House of Commons must be approved by the Lords before it comes into effect. The House of Lords consisted for many years of a combination of leading religious figures (archbishops and the like), life peers, and hereditary peers. The special thing about a hereditary peerage is that it is passed on when the holder dies. Thus there had been Effinghams in the house for five centuries, and when one Earl died his son took his title and seat.

This all changed in 1999, when the labour party realised that there was a slight imbalance. Because hereditary peers are pretty much immortal there were lots of them (759 to be precise). And as they tended to be rich and live in big houses, they alomost always voted for the conservatives. Trying to correct this imbalance, the labour government pushed through an act to reduce the number to 92, to represent the interests of the 759. This drastic cull still leaves them with a fair proportion of the 713 current peers, and they still tend to vote conservative, but it is a slight improvement.

If one of the 92 dies, then they are replaced not necessarily by their son, but by any hereditary nobleman. This means that elections must take place, with the electorate being those hereditary peers who are already in the House of Lords who support the party of the deceased.