London - There was uproar in the House of Lords yesterday as the Earl of Burford, eldest son of the Duke of St Albans, leapt on to the Woolsack protesting at the government's Bill to end hereditary peers' right to sit in parliament. The Bill cleared the Lords by 221 votes to 81, a government majority of 140, and now returns to the House of Commons.
The Lords Deputy Speaker, Lord Boston of Faversham, jumped out of the way when the earl began shouting and waving an order paper. He was pulled down by ushers and ordered out of the peers' entrance. The earl, who is descended from the bastard offspring of Charles II and Nell Gwynne, said afterwards: "This Bill drafted in Brussels is treason. What we are witnessing is the abolition of Britain."