For the by-election of one Labour hereditary peer, he said there had been an "absurd" 11 candidates and just three electors.

BBC: Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill

He became a hereditary peer in the House of Lords after the death of his father, who was British, in 1996.

BBC: Chris O'Dowd to star in Spinal Tap-style series on

Also big is OCRA Worldwide, based on the Isle of Man and chaired by Lord St John of Bletso, a hereditary peer and lawyer.

ECONOMIST: Company formation

Lord Lucas, a hereditary peer whose title is one of the few that can be inherited by woman, thinks he has the answer - An "opt-in" system.

BBC: UK Politics

The problem for the Tories is that a hereditary peer may not be believed when he insists, as Viscount Cranborne does, that his complaint against Lords reform has nothing to do with the expulsion of his own sort from the House.

ECONOMIST: Robert Cranborne��s Maxim gun