The Life Peerages Act of 1958 was introduced by Harold Macmillan’s Conservative government and allowed women in the House of Lords for the first time. It was the first cog in the wheel of rejuvenating the almost entirely hereditary membership there.
Baroness Sal Brinton, the President of the Liberal Democrats, told Premier: “I think actually our politics in the United Kingdom would have been very different because, although I think that women have changed the tone and the way both houses work… there’s also been something about the progress of women in the House of Lords itself in politics.”
“We’ve had a leader of the house, three of our four Lord Speakers have been women but actually it’s much more than that – it’s always about the tone and the way we operate which you will always find when you get a large number of women getting together.”
Speaking of how Christian women have changed the chamber, she said: “The first woman bishop joined us in the House of Lords three years ago and we have two of them now, so that’s fantastic and it really begins to feel that the last bastion of all-male benches is beginning to change.”
There are currently 26 Lords Spiritual, Anglican bishops, in the House of Lords but Baroness Brinton explained these are not the only church representatives: “People are aware that we have a number of bishops from the Church of England but we now…
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