By-election Labour hereditary peers

11 candidates have registered to stand for election as follows:

Lord Biddulph
The Earl of Carlisle
Lord Clifford of Chudleigh
Lord Grantchester
Lord Hacking
Viscount Hanworth
Lord HolmPatrick
The Earl of Kimberley
Lord Monkswell
Viscount Samuel
Lord Vaux of Harrowden

The result will be announced by the Clerk of the Parliaments in the House at 3pm on Thursday 30 October 2003.

Notes for editors

1. Lord Milner of Leeds was one of 4 elected Labour Hereditary Peers. (Two were elected by the Labour hereditary peers and two were elected by the whole House as potential Office Holders).

2. The 1999 House of Lords Act, removed the automatic right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords. As part of an agreement between Viscount Cranborne (then Leader of the Conservative Opposition) and the Lord Chancellor, 92 hereditary peers (out of a total of some 750 hereditary peers) were allowed to remain, pending the implementation of further reform.

This provision was part of the 1999 Act. The 92 were made up as follows: 15 Office Holders; 42 Conservatives; 28 Crossbenchers; 2 Labour; 3 Liberal Democrats. The remaining two were Royal Office Holders - The Earl Marshal (The Duke of Norfolk) and the Lord Great Chamberlain (The Marquess of Cholmondeley).

3. Between November 1999 and November 2002 vacancies through death were filled by the runners up on the list of those elected (Lord Cobbold and Lord Chorley filled the places vacated on the deaths of Baroness Wharton and the Earl of Carnarvon).

4. Provision was made under House of Lords Standing Orders for by-elections to be held when a hereditary peer died after the end of the first session of this Parliament.

5. A register of hereditary peers who wish to stand for election as members of the House of Lords is maintained by the Clerk of the Parliaments, who is Head of the House of Lords Administration.

Further information: 

Anna Murphy:   020 7219 5307
Mary Morgan:   020 7219 0671/3327
David Beamish: 020 7219 3187