Number of Life Peers
| Prime Minister | Party | Tenure | Peers | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harold Macmillan | Conservative | 1957–1963 | 48 | 9.6* |
| Alec Douglas-Home | Conservative | 1963–1964 | 14 | 14.0 |
| Harold Wilson | Labour | 1964–1970 | 123 | 20.5** |
| Edward Heath | Conservative | 1970–1974 | 56 | 14.0 |
| Harold Wilson | Labour | 1974–1976 | 80 | 40.0** |
| James Callaghan | Labour | 1976–1979 | 57 | 19.0 |
| Margaret Thatcher | Conservative | 1979–1990 | 200 | 18.2 |
| John Major | Conservative | 1990–1997 | 141 | 20.1 |
| Tony Blair | Labour | 1997–2007 | 357 | 35.7 |
| Gordon Brown | Labour | 2007–2010 | 34 | 11.3 |
| David Cameron | Conservative | 2010- | 121 | 60.5 |
| Total | 1,231 | 20.2 | ||
| * ** |
||||
The Appellate Jurisdiction Act originally provided for the appointment of two Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, who would continue to serve while holding judicial office, though in 1887, they were permitted to continue to sit in the House of Lords for life, under the style and dignity of baron. The number of Lords of Appeal in Ordinary was increased from time to time — to three in 1882, to four in 1891, to six in 1913, to seven in 1919, to nine in 1947, to 11 in 1968 and to 12 in 1994. These provisions were repealed by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 which created the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
The rate of creation of life peerages under the Life Peerages Act has not shown a consistent pattern. Current prime minister David Cameron has been creating life peerages at the highest rate. Conservative Prime Ministers have created on average 20 life peers per year in office, Labour Prime Ministers an average of 27.2 per year. In absolute terms, Labour (in 24 years) created 1.2 times the number of life peerages created by the Conservatives (in 29 years). - On the other hand, Conservative Prime Ministers (especially Macmillan) created the vast majority of the about 50 hereditary peerages still created since 1958.
In 1999, there were 172 Conservative and 160 Labour life peers in the House of Lords, and by 4 January 2010, there were 141 Conservative and 207 Labour life peers in the House of Lords. The hereditary element of the House of Lords, however, was much less balanced. In 1999, for example, immediately before most hereditary peers were removed by the House of Lords Act, there were 350 Conservative hereditary peers, compared with 19 Labour peers and 23 Liberal Democrat peers.
Read more about this topic: Life Peer (United Kingdom)
Famous quotes containing the words number of, number, life and/or peers:
“In a number of other cultures, fathers are not relegated to babysitter status, nor is their ability to be primary nurturers so readily dismissed.... We have evidence that in our own society men can rear and nurture their children competently and that men’s methods, although different from those of women, are imaginative and constructive.”
—Kyle D. Pruett (20th century)
“But however the forms of family life have changed and the number expanded, the role of the family has remained constant and it continues to be the major institution through which children pass en route to adulthood.”
—Bernice Weissbourd (20th century)
“The theater, which is in no thing, but makes use of everything—gestures, sounds, words, screams, light, darkness—rediscovers itself at precisely the point where the mind requires a language to express its manifestations.... To break through language in order to touch life is to create or recreate the theatre.”
—Antonin Artaud (1896–1948)
“The generations of thy peers are fled.
And we ourselves shall go;
But thou possessest an immortal lot,
And we imagine thee exempt from age”
—Matthew Arnold (1822–1888)