London - Hundreds of hereditary peers bade a final farewell to the House of Lords yesterday - closing 800 years of British parliamentary history. The government had at last carried out its manifesto pledge to terminate them, after 12 months of argument, pleading and behind-the-scenes fixing.
It was left to Baroness Thatcher, the last prime minister to create hereditary peerages, to set the sombre mood as peers prepared to take the final stage of the House of Lords Bill. She sat stony-faced on the opposition front bench, looking straight ahead at the leader of the Lords, Baroness Jay, chatting nervously with government chief whip, Lord Carter.
They waited patiently for the end to arrive for the dukes, marquesses, earls and barons, only to be disturbed by the sudden arrival of Viscount Cranborne. He was sacked last December as Tory leader in the Lords for brokering the Weatherill deal which allowed 92 hereditaries to stay on in the transitional House of Lords.