Overview

The first 14 life peers included a trade unionist, a colonial governor and an economist and broadcaster

The House of Lords continued to undergo reform in the 1960s

The plan for life peers, including women, to sit and vote alongside existing hereditary peers got a strong reaction from the public

Two inconclusive general elections were held in 1910 in an attempt to resolve the constitutional crisis

A Liberal electoral landslide in 1906 made a clash with the Conservative-dominated House of Lords almost inevitable

In 1999 the House of Lords Act excluded most hereditary Peers from the Upper House as the Government embarked on a new phase of reform

Following the Labour landslide of 1945 the Government prepared to revisit the 1911 Parliament Act

The Government's determination to press on with the Parliament Bill provoked a split in the Conservative Party