It's a job with no salary, a uniform of ermine-trimmed robes -- and a sense of membership in an exclusive club.
Even in 21st-century Britain -- when most barons are appointed rather than born to rule -- a seat in Britain's House of Lords retains its luster. Media mogul Conrad Black gave up his Canadian citizenship to get one, and now Prime Minister Tony Blair is wracked by claims that some Labour Party supporters got theirs in return for hefty loans.
"It is still regarded as something prestigious," said Peter Facey of Elect the Lords Campaign, a pressure group pushing for peers to be chosen by the people.
"It's for life; you get to be a member of one of the most exclusive gentlemen's clubs in the world; you get to have your own coat of arms; you get to call yourself Lord whatever. For lots of people, that is something attractive," Facey said.
These days, parliament's unelected upper chamber is a collection of former lawmakers, lawyers, corporate leaders and political donors -- some nominated by political parties, others selected by an appointment committee from among the country's "great and good," and all elevated to the rank by Queen Elizabeth II -- tasked with scrutinizing legislation passed by the elected House of Commons. For the first time, it is being run by a woman -- Baroness Hayman, who presides over debates as the newly elected Lord Speaker.
But for centuries it was made up of hereditary nobles, an aristocratic elite memorably described by Liberal prime minister David Lloyd George as "500 men ... chosen accidentally from among the unemployed."
Traditionalists say the old system offered a chamber of sober second thought, unbeholden to electors or to the strict party discipline imposed on elected lawmakers.
"It was rather like having a random selection of the population in parliament -- rather like being balloted for jury service," said Viscount Torrington, a hereditary noble who lost his Lords seat when Blair's government reformed the upper house.
Critics say hereditary peers -- largely the eldest sons of aristocratic families with little experience of the hardships faced by most Britons -- were hardly representative of the country.
Blair's Labour Party came to power in 1997 vowing to reform the 900-year-old Lords into the 21st century. His government moved swiftly in its first term to expel more than 600 hereditary dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts and barons, but compromised by allowing 92 to keep their seats while the government decided how the body would be chosen in the future. When one of the 92 dies, a replacement is chosen by election among the hereditaries.
The ejected peers retain their titles, but not their seats in the Lords.
In the last few years, Lords reform has stalled. House of Commons leader Jack Straw, who is in charge of pushing it forward, has said he wants "a more representative, more modern" Lords -- but has not said whether that means an appointed chamber, an elected one, or a combination of the two.
The House of Lords currently has 741 members, most appointees nominated either by political parties or by an independent commission. Known as life peers, they get a lordly title and ermine robes but cannot pass them on to their children. There are also several senior appeal judges known as Law Lords; and 26 "Lords Spiritual," Church of England bishops. All life peers are granted the title baron or baroness -- which they cannot pass on to their children.
British, Irish or Commonwealth citizens can be nominated -- although the Canadian government invoked a rarely used statute to try to stop Black accepting a peerage in 2001. He renounced his Canadian citizenship to become Lord Black of Crossharbour. Like other life peers, he chose the title himself, taking it from the London location of the offices of his newspaper, the Daily Telegraph.
Lords are not paid, but receive allowances to cover living expenses, travel and office costs when parliament is sitting.
Despite the reforms, the Lords remains elderly -- the average age is 68 -- overwhelmingly white and mostly male; less than 20 percent of peers are women. More than a third are former politicians from one of the three main political parties. Just under 20 percent are from the corporate world.
Many wield strong political influence. Several peers were appointed so that they could take jobs as government ministers, who must be members of parliament.
Lord Levy -- an appointed peer arrested this week by police investigating cash-for-honors allegations -- is Blair's Middle East envoy, his chief fundraiser and reportedly his favorite tennis partner.
The future shape of the Lords remains uncertain. Reformers like Facey favor an elected upper chamber. Traditionalists like Torrington regret the passing of the old ways.
"The House of Lords was a good club," Torrington said. "It was fun. It gave one a buzz that one was, if not exactly in the center of politics, at least within spitting range of the center of politics."
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