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In theUnited Kingdom,life peers are appointed members of thepeerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast tohereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of theDukedom of Edinburgh awarded for life toPrince Edward in 2023, all life peerages conferred since 2009 have been created under theLife Peerages Act 1958 with the rank ofbaron, and entitle their holders to sit and vote in theHouse of Lords so long as they meet qualifications such as age and citizenship. Thelegitimate children of a life peer appointed under the Life Peerages Act 1958 are entitled tostyle themselves with the prefix "The Honourable", although they cannot inherit the peerage. Prior to 2009, life peers of baronial rank could also be created under theAppellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 for senior judges, referred to asLaw Lords, with functions then taken over by the newSupreme Court.
The Crown, asfount of honour, creates peerages of two types, being hereditary or for life. In the early days of the peerage, the sovereign had the right to summon individuals to one Parliament without being bound to summon them again. Over time,[when?] it was established that once summoned, a peer would have to be summoned for the remainder of their life, and later, that the peer's heirs and successors would also be summoned, thereby firmly entrenching the hereditary principle.
Nevertheless, life peerages lingered. From the reign ofJames I to that ofGeorge II (between 1603 and 1760), 18 life peerages were created for women. Women, however, were excluded from sitting in the House of Lords, so it was unclear whether or not a life peerage would entitle a man to do the same. For over four centuries—if one excludes those who sat inCromwell's House of Lords (or Other House) during theInterregnum—no man had claimed a seat in the Lords by virtue of a life peerage. In 1856, it was thought necessary to add a peer learned in law to the House of Lords (which was thefinal court of appeal), without allowing the peer's heirs to sit in the House and swell its numbers.Sir James Parke, aBaron (judge) of theExchequer, was created Baron Wensleydale for life, but the House of Lords concluded that the peerage did not entitle him to sit in the House of Lords. Lord Wensleydale was therefore appointed a hereditary peer (in the event, he had no sons, so his peerage did not pass to an heir)(See alsoWensleydale Peerage Case (1856)).
The Government introduced a bill to authorise the creation of two life peerages carrying seats in the House of Lords for judges who had held office for at least five years. The House of Lords passed it, but the bill was lost in theHouse of Commons.
In 1869, a more comprehensive life peerages bill was brought forward bythe Earl Russell. At any one time, 28 life peerages could be in existence; no more than four were to be created in any one year. Life peers were to be chosen from senior judges, civil servants, senior officers of theBritish Army orRoyal Navy, members of the House of Commons who had served for at least ten years, scientists, writers, artists,peers of Scotland, andpeers of Ireland. (Peers of Scotland and Ireland did not all have seats in the House of Lords, instead electing a number ofrepresentative peers.) The bill was rejected by the House of Lords at itsthird reading.
TheAppellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 permitted the creation of life peerages with the rank of baron forsenior judges in the House of Lords. Initially it was intended that theLords of Appeal in Ordinary created in this way (for their titles, see thelist of law life peerages) would only sit in theHouse of Lords while serving their term as judges, but in 1887 (on the retirement ofLord Blackburn, the first person appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876) theAppellate Jurisdiction Act 1887 provided that former judges would retain their seats for life.[1] The practice of appointing life peers under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 ended with the creation of theSupreme Court of the United Kingdom in 2009. Sitting judges of the Supreme Court are not automatically given life peerages but are entitled to use thejudicial courtesy title of "Lord" or "Lady" for life.[2]
The Life Peerages Act sanctions the regular granting of life peerages, but the power to appoint Lords of Appeal in Ordinary under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act was notderogated. The Act placed no limits on the number of peerages that the sovereign may award, as was done by the Appellate Jurisdiction Act. A peer created under the Life Peerages Act has the right to sit in the House of Lords, provided that they are at least 21 years of age, are not suffering punishment upon conviction fortreason, and are a citizen of the United Kingdom, or of a member of theCommonwealth of Nations,[3] and are a resident in the UK for tax purposes.[4]
Life baronies under the Life Peerages Act are created by the sovereign but, in practice, are only granted when proposed by thePrime Minister.
Life peers created under the Life Peerages Act do not, unless they also hold ministerial positions, receive salaries. They are, however, entitled to an allowance of £300 for travel and accommodation for each day on which the peer "signs in" to the House, though the peer does not have to take part in the business of the House.
From time to time, lists of "working peers" are published.[5] They do not form a formal class, but represent the various political parties and are expected to regularly attend the House of Lords. Most new appointments of life peers fall into this category.
Normally, the Prime Minister chooses only peers from their own party, but permits the leaders of opposition parties to recommend peers from their parties. The Prime Minister may determine the number of peers each party may propose; they may also choose to amend these recommendations, but by convention do not do so.
Peers may be created on anon-partisan basis. Formerly, nominations on merit alone were made by the Prime Minister, but this function was partially transferred to a new, non-statutoryHouse of Lords Appointments Commission in 2000. Individuals recommended for the peerage by the commission go on to become what have been described by some in the British media as "people's peers".[6] The commission also scrutinises party recommendations for working peerages to ensure propriety. The Prime Minister may determine the number of peers the Commission may propose, and also may amend the recommendations. Again, by convention, no amendment is made to the recommendations of the commission.
Individuals may be created peers in various honours lists as rewards for achievement; these peers are not expected to attend the House of Lords regularly, but are at liberty to do so if they please. TheNew Year Honours List, theKing's Birthday Honours List (to mark thesovereign's official birthday, the third Saturday in June), theDissolution Honours List (to mark the dissolution of Parliament) and theResignation Honours List (to mark the end of a Prime Minister's tenure) are all used to announce life peerage creations.
Creations may be made for individuals on retirement from important public offices, such as Prime Minister,Speaker of the House of Commons orArchbishop of Canterbury orYork.
Sir Alec Douglas-Home, who had renounced his hereditary title of the 14thEarl of Home on becoming Prime Minister, was the first former occupant of the office to receive a life barony.Harold Wilson,James Callaghan andMargaret Thatcher all took life peerages following their retirement from the House of Commons.David Cameron took a life peerage upon his appointment as Foreign Secretary under Rishi Sunak.Theresa May was granted a life peerage in the2024 Dissolution Honours.Edward Heath[citation needed] andJohn Major[7] chose not to become peers.Tony Blair,Gordon Brown,Boris Johnson, andLiz Truss have yet to receive a peerage. As of July 2024[update],Rishi Sunak is still serving as an MP.
Harold Macmillan declined a peerage on leaving office, but over 20 years after retiring he accepted a second offer of the customary hereditary earldom for retiring Prime Ministers, asEarl of Stockton (1984); this was the last earldom to be offered outside theroyal family. WhileDavid Lloyd George also waited a similar period forhis earldom, most offers have been made and accepted shortly after retirement such as the Earls ofOxford and Asquith,Baldwin,Attlee andAvon.
Many Cabinet members, includingChancellors of the Exchequer,Foreign Secretaries,Home Secretaries andDefence Secretaries, retiring since 1958 have generally been created life peers.William Whitelaw was created a hereditary viscount on the recommendation of Margaret Thatcher. Viscount Whitelaw died without male issue.
Life peerages have generally been granted toSpeakers of the House of Commons upon retirement since 1971, who sit as crossbenchers. (Previously, retiring Speakers had by custom received a hereditary peerage between 1780 and 1970, usually aviscountcy.) George Thomas was the only Speaker after 1971 who still received a hereditary peerage instead of a life peerage, being createdViscount Tonypandy, but he died without male issue. The convention was broken in 2020 when retiring SpeakerJohn Bercow was not granted a life peerage, the first denial of a peerage to a former Speaker in over 200 years.[8] At the time, Bercow was under investigation by theParliamentary Commissioner for Standards regarding allegations of bullying, with the government claiming that Bercow would fail a "propriety test" conducted for all nominees. Unusually, Bercow was nominated for a peerage by then-Leader of the Opposition and Labour leaderJeremy Corbyn.
The Prime Minister continues to recommend a small number of former public office-holders for peerages. This generally includes Chiefs of Defence Staff, Secretaries of the Cabinet, and Heads of the Diplomatic Service. Every Archbishop of Canterbury who has retired since 1958 has been created a life peer, as have most recent Archbishops of York on retirement. A small number of other bishops—such asDavid Sheppard of Liverpool andRichard Harries of Oxford—were ennobled on retiring. TheLord Chamberlain is traditionally a member of the House of Lords and so is ennobled on appointment (if not already a peer), while most retiringPrivate Secretaries to the Sovereign andGovernors of the Bank of England have also become peers.
High judicial officers have sometimes been created life peers upon taking office. AllLord Chief Justices of England and Wales have, since 1958, been created life peers under the Life Peerages Act, with the exception ofLord Woolf, who was already a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary before becoming Lord Chief Justice. Similarly,Lord Reed was created a life peer in 2019 when he was appointedPresident of the Supreme Court,[9] all of his predecessors in that role having already been created life peers as former Lords of Appeal in Ordinary.
Life peerages may in certain cases be awarded to hereditary peers. After theHouse of Lords Act 1999 passed, several hereditary peers of the first creation, who had not inherited their titles but would still be excluded from the House of Lords by the Act, were created life peers:Toby Low, 1st Baron Aldington;Frederick James Erroll, 1st Baron Erroll of Hale;Frank Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford and1st Baron Pakenham; andAntony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon. None of the peers of the first creation who were members of the royal family was granted a life peerage, as they had all declined. Life peerages were also granted to formerLeaders of the House of Lords, includingJohn Julian Ganzoni, 2nd Baron Belstead;Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington;Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 7th Marquess of Salisbury (better known asViscount Cranborne andLord Cecil of Essendon, having attended the Lords by virtue of awrit of acceleration);George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe;Malcolm Shepherd, 2nd Baron Shepherd; andDavid Hennessy, 3rd Baron Windlesham.
As part of the celebrations to mark the fiftieth anniversary of theLife Peerages Act,Gareth Williams, Baron Williams of Mostyn was voted by the members of the House of Lords at the time as the outstanding life peer since the creation of the life peerage.[10]
| Prime Minister | Party | Tenure | No. of peers | Per year | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harold Macmillan | Conservative | 1957–1963 | 46 | 7.7[a] | ||
| Alec Douglas-Home | Conservative | 1963–1964 | 16 | 16.0 | ||
| Harold Wilson | Labour | 1964–1970 | 122 | 20.3[b] | ||
| Edward Heath | Conservative | 1970–1974 | 58 | 14.5 | ||
| Harold Wilson | Labour | 1974–1976 | 80 | 40.0[b] | ||
| James Callaghan | Labour | 1976–1979 | 58 | 19.3 | ||
| Margaret Thatcher | Conservative | 1979–1990 | 201 | 18.2 | ||
| John Major | Conservative | 1990–1997 | 160 | 26.7 | ||
| Tony Blair | Labour | 1997–2007 | 357 | 35.7 | ||
| Gordon Brown | Labour | 2007–2010 | 34 | 11.3 | ||
| David Cameron | Conservative | 2010–2016 | 243 | 40.5 | ||
| Theresa May | Conservative | 2016–2019 | 43 | 14.3 | ||
| Boris Johnson | Conservative | 2019–2022 | 87 | 29 | ||
| Liz Truss | Conservative | 2022 | 3 | 3 | ||
| Rishi Sunak | Conservative | 2022–2024 | 58 | 29 | ||
| Keir Starmer | Labour | 2024–present | 64 | 64 | ||
| Total | 1,657 | 24.4 | ||||
| Life peerages conferred on hereditary peers (from 1999 onwards) are not included in the numbers. | ||||||
As of 24 March 2025, there are 719 life peers eligible to vote in the House of Lords.[12] This includes 234 Conservative, 209 Labour, 73 Liberal Democrat, and 150 crossbench peers. There are also 13 others representing 4 other parties, 38 non-affiliated, 1 labelling themselves as "independent" but close to a party, and the Lord Speaker.[12] In addition, there are about 70 life peers who have retired from the House of Lords since 2010, as well as several who have been removed for non-attendance.[13] There are currently 24 life peers who are members but ineligible to sit, either because of temporary suspension, a requested leave of absence, or holding of certain judicial offices.
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 theConstitutional Reform Act 2005 which created theSupreme Court of the United Kingdom. That Act also provided that holders of judicial offices, including Justice of the Supreme Court, who are for that reason disqualified from the House of Commons or the Northern Ireland Assembly, are now also disqualified from taking up their seats in the House of Lords if they are peers (as the former Law Lords all were).[14]
The rate of creation of life peerages under the Life Peerages Act has been fluctuating, with a high rate being most common right after a new party is elected to government. Consequently,David Cameron andTony Blair have created life peerages at high rates, at 40.5 and 35.7 peerages per year respectively.
Conservative Prime Ministers have created on average 21 life peers per year in office, Labour Prime Ministers an average of 27 per year. In absolute terms, the Conservatives (in 40 years) have created slightly more (853 out of 1504, as of June 2022) life peerages than Labour (651 in 24 years); in addition, the vast majority (61) of the 68 non-royalhereditary peerages created since 1958 were created under Conservative Prime Ministers (especially Macmillan). Only three non-royal hereditary peerages have been created since 1965 (all under Thatcher), and none since 1984.[15]
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[16] were removed by theHouse of Lords Act, there were 350 Conservative hereditary peers, compared with 19 Labour peers and 23Liberal Democrat peers.
ThePeerage Act 1963 allows the holder of a hereditary peerage to disclaim their title for life. There is no such provision for life peers. TheCoalition Government's draft proposal for Lords reform in 2011 provided "that a person who holds a life peerage may at any time disclaim that peerage by writing to the Lord Chancellor. The person [and their spouse and children] will be divested of all rights and interests attaching to [that] peerage."[17] This proposal did not become law. In 2014 under theHouse of Lords Reform Act it became possible for peers to resign from the House of Lords and the next year'sHouse of Lords (Expulsion and Suspension) Act authorised the Lords to expel a peer (both without disclaiming the peerage).
Mostbarons or baronesses for life take a title based on theirsurname, either alone (e.g.Baron Hattersley) or in combination with aplacename (known as aterritorial designation) to differentiate them from others of the same surname (e.g.Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws).[18] Surnames need not be used at all if desired.[19]Ian Paisley, for example, opted for the titleLord Bannside, andJohn Gummer chose the titleLord Deben. There are also occasions when someone's surname is not appropriate as a title, such asMichael Lord (nowLord Framlingham) andMichael Bishop (nowLord Glendonbrook).[20]
The formal style for a life peer is as follows (John Smith and Mary Smith refer to any name; London to anyterritorial designation):
Life peers are often mistakenly called 'Lord' or 'Lady' before their names (e.g. "Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber") following theirennoblement, but this is incorrect since the correct form should be one of those shown above.[22] Only the daughters of earls, marquesses and dukes (and women members of the Orders of the Garter and the Thistle), and the younger sons of marquesses and dukes are properly referred to by thecourtesy title of Lord or Lady Firstname Lastname, e.g. "Lord Louis Mountbatten", who was referred to as such as the younger son ofthe Marquess of Milford Haven before his enoblement as the Viscount (later Earl) Mountbatten of Burma.
A different form of modern life peerage was instituted whenPrince Edward was madeDuke of Edinburgh for life in 2023, with the title to revert to the Crown on the prince's death. This ennoblement differs from other life peerages in that it was not made under the 1958 Act, does not give the prince the right to sit in the House of Lords, and gives him a more elevated rank than baron.[23]
Whatever happens, it is to be hoped that the next holder possesses the dukedom as a hereditary peerage. There had been peers for life before workaday life peers were invented in 1958. As recently as 1377, Guichard d'Angle was created Earl of Huntingdon for life by Richard II, and none of those Law Lords between 1876 and 2009 could pass down their peerages.
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