The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest extant institutions in the world, its origins lie in the early 11th century and the emergence of bicameralism in the 13th century.
Betty Boothroyd, Baroness Boothroyd, was a British politician who served as a member of Parliament (MP) for West Bromwich and West Bromwich West from 1973 to 2000. A member of the Labour Party, she served as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1992 to 2000. She was previously a Deputy Speaker from 1987 to 1992. She was the first and to date only woman to serve as Speaker. Boothroyd later sat in the House of Lords as, in accordance with tradition, a crossbench peer.
Angela Evans Smith, Baroness Smith of Basildon,, is a British politician and life peer serving as Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal since 2024. A member of the Labour and Co-operative Parties, she was Member of Parliament (MP) for Basildon from 1997 to 2010.
Joyce Anne Anelay, Baroness Anelay of St Johns,, is a British Conservative Party politician, previously serving as Minister of State of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from August 2014 to June 2017. Anelay was appointed as Minister of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union in the Second May ministry, after the 2017 reshuffle.
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the Dukedom of Edinburgh awarded for life to Prince Edward in 2023, all life peerages conferred since 2009 have been created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 with the rank of baron and entitle their holders to sit and vote in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as age and citizenship. The legitimate children of a life peer appointed under the Life Peerages Act 1958 are entitled to style themselves with the prefix "The Honourable", although they cannot inherit the peerage itself. Prior to 2009, life peers of baronial rank could also be so created under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 for senior judges.
John Richard Attlee, 3rd Earl Attlee, styled Viscount Prestwood between 1967 and 1991, is a British Conservative Party peer and member of the House of Lords. He is the grandson of Clement Attlee, the Labour Prime Minister, who was the first Earl Attlee.
John Max Henry Scawen Wyndham, 7th Baron Leconfield, 2nd Baron Egremont, FRSL, DL, generally known as Max Egremont, is a British biographer and novelist.
Sarah Elizabeth Mary Hogg, Viscountess Hailsham, Baroness Hogg, is a British economist, journalist, and politician. She was the first woman to chair a FTSE 100 company.
Sayeeda Hussain Warsi, Baroness Warsi, is a British lawyer, politician, and member of the House of Lords who served as co-chairwoman of the Conservative Party from 2010 to 2012. She served in the Cameron–Clegg coalition, first as the Minister without portfolio between 2010 and 2012, then as the Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and as the Minister of State for Faith and Communities, until her resignation citing her disagreement with the Government's policy relating to the Israel–Gaza conflict in August 2014. In September 2024 Baroness Warsi resigned the Whip and left the Conservative Party.
Rodney Elton, 2nd Baron Elton, was a British Conservative politician and member of the House of Lords.
John Edward Reginald Wyndham, 6th Baron Leconfield, 1st Baron Egremont MBE was a British hereditary peer, art collector and author.
The representation of women in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom has been an issue in the politics of the United Kingdom at numerous points in the 20th and 21st centuries. Originally debate centred on whether women should be allowed to vote and stand for election as Members of Parliament. The Parliament Act 1918 gave women over 21 the right to stand for election as a Member of Parliament. The United Kingdom has had three female Prime Ministers: Margaret Thatcher (1979–1990), Theresa May (2016–2019), and Liz Truss (2022). The publication of the book Women in the House by Elizabeth Vallance in 1979 highlighted the under-representation of women in Parliament. In more modern times concerns about the under-representation of women led the Labour Party to introduce and, decades later, abandon all-women short lists, something which was later held to breach discrimination laws.
Anne Caroline Jenkin, Baroness Jenkin of Kennington is a Conservative member of the House of Lords.
Susan Frances Maria Williams, Baroness Williams of Trafford is a Conservative life peer who served as the Chief Whip of the House of Lords and Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms between 2022 and 2024. In March 2022 she was made a member of the Privy Council. She has been Opposition Chief Whip in the House of Lords since July 2024.
Olivia Caroline Bloomfield, Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist is a British life peer and member of the House of Lords.
The first women in the House of Lords took their seats in 1958, forty years after women were granted the right to stand as MPs in the House of Commons. These were life peeresses appointed by the Prime Minister, although countesses had appeared in medieval times.
Pamela Wyndham, Baroness Egremont, was a British society hostess and traveller, who worked at Bletchley Park during the Second World War, before marrying her cousin John Wyndham, 1st Baron Egremont.
Joanna Carolyn Penn, Baroness Penn, known as JoJo Penn, is a British political advisor. She was a baroness-in-waiting from March 2020 to September 2022. From November 2023 to March 2024, she was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing and Communities in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
Charlotte Kathryn Tranter Owen, Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge is a British life peer and former special adviser. She has been a Conservative member of the House of Lords since 2023, and was the youngest recipient of a life peerage at the time of her appointment.
