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 institutions in the world,its origins lie in the early 11th century and the emergence of bicameralism in the 13th century.
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom,and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster in London. Parliament possesses legislative supremacy and thereby holds ultimate power over all other political bodies in the United Kingdom and the Overseas Territories. While Parliament is bicameral,it has three parts:the sovereign,the House of Lords,and the House of Commons. The three parts acting together to legislate may be described as the King-in-Parliament. The Crown normally acts on the advice of the prime minister,and the powers of the House of Lords are limited to only delaying legislation;thus power is de facto vested in the House of Commons.
Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Williams,Baroness Williams of Crosby,was a British politician and academic. Originally a Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP),she served in the Labour cabinet from 1974 to 1979. She was one of the "Gang of Four" rebels who founded the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981 and,at the time of her retirement from politics,was a Liberal Democrat.
David Martin Scott Steel,Baron Steel of Aikwood,is a retired Scottish politician. Elected as Member of Parliament for Roxburgh,Selkirk,and Peebles,followed by Tweeddale,Ettrick,and Lauderdale,he served as the final leader of the Liberal Party,from 1976 to 1988. His tenure spanned the duration of the alliance with the Social Democratic Party,which began in 1981 and concluded with the formation of the Liberal Democrats in 1988.
William Thomas Rodgers,Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank,,is a British politician and life peer. As a Labour Party member of Parliament,he served as Secretary of State for Transport from 1976 to 1979,and was one of the "Gang of Four" of senior Labour politicians who defected to form the Social Democratic Party (SDP). He subsequently helped to lead the SDP into the merger that formed the Liberal Democrats in 1988,and later served as the party's leader in the House of Lords between 1997 and 2001.
Brian Joseph Michael Cotter,Baron Cotter,was a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was Member of Parliament for Weston-super-Mare from 1997 to 2005,and subsequently a member of the House of Lords from 2006 until his death.
Eric Reginald Lubbock,4th Baron Avebury,was an English politician and human rights campaigner. He served as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Orpington from 1962 to 1970. He then served in the House of Lords,having inherited the title of Baron Avebury in 1971,until his death. In 1999,when most hereditary peers were removed from the House of Lords,he was elected by his fellow Liberal Democrats to remain. When he died,he was the longest serving Liberal Democrat peer.
Robert Michael James Gascoyne-Cecil,7th Marquess of Salisbury,Baron Gascoyne-Cecil,,is a British Conservative politician. From 1979 to 1987 he represented South Dorset in the House of Commons,and in the 1990s he was Leader of the House of Lords under his courtesy title of Viscount Cranborne. Lord Salisbury lives in one of England's largest historic houses,the 17th-century Hatfield House in Hertfordshire,and currently serves as Chancellor of the University of Hertfordshire.
The Leader of His Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition,more commonly referred to as the Leader of the Opposition,is the person who leads the Official Opposition in the United Kingdom. The position is seen as the shadow head of government of the United Kingdom and thus the shadow prime minister of the United Kingdom.
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom is the final court of appeal in the United Kingdom for all civil cases,and for criminal cases originating in England,Wales and Northern Ireland. As the United Kingdom’s highest appellate court for these matters,it hears cases of the greatest public or constitutional importance affecting the whole population.
Christopher John Rennard,Baron Rennard,is a British life peer in the House of Lords,appointed to the Liberal Democrats' benches in 1999. He was Director of Campaigns &Elections for the Liberal Democrats from 1989 to 2003,and Chief Executive of the party from 2003 to 2009.
Anthony Paul Lester,Baron Lester of Herne Hill,QC was a British barrister and member of the House of Lords. He was at different times a member of the Labour Party,Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Democrats. Lester was best known for his influence on race relations legislation in the United Kingdom and as a founder-member of groups such as the Institute of Race Relations,the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination and the Runnymede Trust. Lester was also a prominent figure in promoting birth control and abortion through the Family Planning Association,particularly in Northern Ireland.
Liverpool Mossley Hill was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Mossley Hill suburb of Liverpool. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom,elected by the first-past-the-post voting system.
Peter Mahon was a British Labour Party politician.
Christopher John Suenson-Taylor,3rd Baron Grantchester,is a British peer and Labour politician.
Kevin Joseph Maximilian Shinkwin,Baron Shinkwin is a British Conservative politician and member of the House of Lords.
Tomasz Kmiec is a Polish-Canadian politician who serves as the Member of Parliament for Calgary Shepard in the House of Commons of Canada under the Conservative Party of Canada,first elected in 2015. He currently serves as Shadow Minister for Immigration,Citizenship and Refugees.
Benedict Richard Victor Rogers is a British human rights activist and journalist based in London. His work focuses on Asia,particularly Burma,North Korea,Indonesia,the Maldives,East Timor,Pakistan and Hong Kong. He is a regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal,The New York Times and The Huffington Post and has appeared on BBC,CNN,Sky,Al Jazeera and other television and radio stations.
Luke John de Pulford is a human rights campaigner,particularly in the areas of modern slavery and human rights abuses in China. In 2015,de Pulford co-founded Arise,which he led until 2022. He is the founder and Executive Director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China,which he co-founded with leading legislators from eight legislatures in 2020. De Pulford is also co-founder of the Coalition for Genocide Response,sits as a Commissioner on the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission,advises the World Uyghur Congress,and is the trustee of several charities.
Diane Munday is a British political activist who,as a leading member of the Abortion Law Reform Association (ALRA) from 1962 until 1974,played a prominent role in the decriminalisation of abortion in the United Kingdom with the Abortion Act 1967. She was also a co-founder of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service. A longtime associate of the secular humanist movement,she has been named a patron of Humanists UK.
