The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United
Kingdom. It shapes draft laws and checks and challenges the work of
the government. One of the oldest institutions in the world, its
origins lie in the early 11th century (as Parliament originates in the
Witans – an Anglo-Saxon political body made up of councils consulted
by Saxon kings and attended by religious leaders, magnates and the
king's ministers) and the emergence of bicameralism in the 13th
century (where attendance includes representatives of counties, cities
and boroughs). Membership of the Lords is not generally acquired by
election. Most members are appointed for life, on either a political
or non-political basis. Hereditary membership was abolished in 1999,
save for 92 excepted hereditary peers: 90 elected through internal
by-elections, plus the Earl Marshal and Lord Great Chamberlain as
members ex officio. No members directly inherit their seats any
longer. The House of Lords also includes up to 26 archbishops and
bishops of the Church of England, known as Lords
Spiritual. Since 2014, membership may be voluntarily relinquished or
terminated upon expulsion.
Sources:
https://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/lords-history/history-of-the-lords
https://uk.linkedin.com/company/the-house-of-lords https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Lords Esteban Rivera, 4 October 2023
In a documentary about the House of Lords. Admiral Lord West, who is
evidently a vexillologist, explained that he had persuaded the Parliamentary
authorities to hoist the Union Flag there all the time and not just when
Parliament was actually sitting. He continued that his next goal was to erect
four more flagpoles, for the flags of England, Scotland and Wales; with the
fourth unoccupied for the moment, there being no official flag for Northern
Ireland. He hopes that the sight of this bare flagpole will encourage the N.I.
politicians to agree on one. This interview however would have been filmed
before the present political crisis. Kenneth Fraser, 22 March 2017
While the symbol of Parliament does
typically appear on crimson fields when used to represent the House of Lords,
there is no report of the adoption of a flag, unlike the flag of the
House of Commons, which was reported by the Flag
Institute. Tomislav Todorovic, 4 October 2023
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