House of Lords Bill — Exceptions from the rule that hereditary peers should be abolished — 10 Nov 1999
The majority Aye voters agreed to introduce a new clause into the House of Lords Bill. The clause details the conditions under which hereditary peers can be excused from the principle set out in section 1 that they should be abolished[1].
This clause was implemented because of the Weatherill Amendment (introduced by Lord Weatherill in the House of Lords on 11 May 1999). The Weatherill Amendment enshrined a compromise between Tony Blair and Viscount Cranborne, the Leader of the Conservative Party in the House of Lords from 1994 until 1998. This compromise was agreed in November 1998 where the government could remove the vast majority of hereditary peers from the House of Lords but 92 would still remain. These 92 would be chosen by their peers in the House of Lords.
The reason for this compromise was that Labour didn't want their legislative agenda continuously blocked by Lords unhappy at the removal of hereditary peers[2].
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- [1] Margaret Beckett MP, 10 November 1999, House of Commons
- [2] Dennis Sewell, 16 October 1998, BBC News
Party Summary
Votes by party, red entries are votes against the majority for that party.
What is Tell? '+1 tell' means that in addition one member of that party was a teller for that division lobby.
What are Boths? An MP can vote both aye and no in the same division. The boths page explains this.
What is Turnout? This is measured against the total membership of the party at the time of the vote.
| Party | Majority (Aye) | Minority (No) | Both | Turnout |
| Con | 109 | 17 (+2 tell) | 0 | 79.5% |
| Lab | 327 (+2 tell) | 2 | 0 | 79.6% |
| LDem | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4.3% |
| UUP | 3 | 1 | 0 | 40.0% |
| Total: | 439 | 22 | 0 | 73.5% |
Rebel Voters - sorted by party
MPs for which their vote in this division differed from the majority vote of their party. You can see all votes in this division, or every eligible MP who could have voted in this division
Sort by: Name | Constituency | Party | Vote
| Name | Constituency | Party | Vote |
| Peter Atkinson | Hexham | Con | no |
| Crispin Blunt | Reigate | Con (front bench) | no |
| Graham Brady | Altrincham and Sale West | Con (front bench) | no |
| Kenneth Clarke | Rushcliffe | Con | no |
| David Davis | Haltemprice and Howden | Con (front bench) | no |
| Eric Forth | Bromley and Chislehurst | Con | tellno |
| Mr Norman Fowler | Sutton Coldfield | Con | no |
| Mr Christopher Gill | Ludlow | Con | no |
| Mrs Teresa Gorman | Billericay | Con | no |
| Douglas Hogg | Sleaford and North Hykeham | Con | no |
| Tim Loughton | East Worthing and Shoreham | Con (front bench) | no |
| John Randall | Uxbridge | Con (front bench) | no |
| Andrew Robathan | Blaby | Con (front bench) | no |
| Laurence Robertson | Tewkesbury | Con (front bench) | no |
| David Ruffley | Bury St Edmunds | Con (front bench) | no |
| Richard Shepherd | Aldridge-Brownhills | Con (front bench) | no |
| Andrew Tyrie | Chichester | Con (front bench) | tellno |
| Peter Viggers | Gosport | Con | no |
| Sir Ray Whitney | Wycombe | Con | no |
| Mr Tony Benn | Chesterfield | Lab | no |
| Mark Fisher | Stoke-on-Trent Central | Lab | no |
| John Taylor | Strangford | UUP | no |