The UK is ejecting hereditary nobles from Parliament after 700 years

Britain is ending the centuries-old tradition of hereditary aristocrats sitting in Parliament’s House of Lords. Late Tuesday the Lords dropped objections to a bill passed by the House of Commons that removes dozens of dukes, earls, and others who inherited seats in the unelected upper chamber. The chamber currently has more than 800 members. The vast majority are now “life peers” appointed by the government, but roughly 1 in 10 members are currently hereditary peers. A previous Labour government removed most hereditary peers in 1999 but left 92 in place. The rest will leave at the end of the current session of Parliament in the spring.