Efforts to reform Britain’s House of Lords sputtering

LONDON – The British government was dealt an embarrassing setback Tuesday in its attempt to turn the unelected, tradition-bound House of Lords into a more modern, more democratic chamber better suited to the 21st century.

While members of the House of Commons agreed to let a reform bill go forward, the government was forced to cancel a vote Tuesday night to expedite the legislation and prevent it from being filibustered. Without that, prospects are uncertain for the controversial proposal to overhaul an institution one political scientist described as “one of the most curious of the curious anomalies in British public life, defying all logic of democratic and secular politics.”

Though no longer the bastion of aristocratic privilege it used to be, the House of Lords remains an unelected body comprising about 825 “peers of the realm,” the vast majority of whom are political appointees awarded lifelong tenure for their public service, professional expertise or close ties to the party in power.

At the behest of its junior coalition partner the Liberal Democrats, the Conservative-led government of Prime Minister David Cameron has proposed transforming the historic upper body into something akin to a Senate.

The number of members would be capped at 450, and 80 percent of them would be elected, to serve 15-year terms. Perhaps most alarming to those who enjoy the House of Lords’ elevated status and the ceremonial scarlet robes with ermine trim, members would no longer be called “lords” and “ladies,” though a new title has yet to be chosen.

“We, all of us here, believe in democracy. We believe that the people who make the laws should be chosen by the people subject to those laws,” Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, told the House of Commons on Monday at the start of a two-day debate. “That principle was established in Britain after centuries of struggle.”

But more than 70 Conservative members of Parliament signed a letter earlier this week objecting to the reforms as hasty and ill-advised. Faced with the backbench rebellion, which the opposition Labor Party gleefully promised to support despite its own stated commitment to retooling the House of Lords, the government abandoned its anti-filibuster vote Tuesday when it became clear it would lose.

Late Tuesday night, a companion vote to let the legislation go forward for eventual deliberation was overwhelmingly approved. But without the measure to limit debate and move the bill along, there is a good chance that opponents will filibuster it.