Pomp, Tradition of House of Lords Comfort Some, Alienate Others

"I have not always been impressed" with the U.S. Senate, Renton said, bristling at the thought that the House of Lords, with its red leather benches and gold throne for the queen, might one day resemble the upstart on the Potomac.

Renton said the genius of the upper house is that it includes world-renowned experts in law, science and the arts who would never run for election. (Many of the most famous lords rarely, if ever, show up, including composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, actor and director Richard Attenborough and former prime minister Margaret Thatcher.) The job comes with no salary, and titles such as lord, baron and baroness are often seen as a type of compensation.

By tradition, the chamber includes the archbishops of Canterbury and York, 24 bishops and hundreds of people appointed by the monarch on the recommendation of the prime minister or an independent commission. Recently, Blair has faced accusations that he is stuffing the chamber with big political contributors.

Few in the chamber are women or minorities -- another source of friction among Britain's increasingly diverse population. Because of deaths and new appointments, the number of lords fluctuates. There are currently 733, of whom 135, or 18 percent, are women. There is no official number on minority membership, but estimates put it at about 30, or 4 percent, a figure that critics say is unacceptably low.

Valerie Amos, the leader of the House of Lords, is a black woman appointed to the chamber in 1997. She said in an interview that in an effort to get a more representative and diverse chamber she would like a "a substantial number" of the chamber's members elected. She also favors term limits, which would end the current "right to sit in the House of Lords until you die."

For the moment, the House of Lords remains, as some call it, a cozy retirement home. The average age is 68.

Lt. Gen. Michael Willcocks, known as the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, is in charge of keeping order and discipline in the chamber. He walks around in court dress -- black silk stockings and Pilgrim shoes -- that dates back centuries.

Black Rod, as everyone calls him because of the ebony and gold staff he carries, is a former British army general who was deputy operational commander of the NATO-led contingent in Bosnia. The most difficult part of his new job, he jokes, is "putting on my tights," explaining that he has had more experience taking off stockings than putting them on.

But Willcocks said there is more to his job than "walking around in a strange uniform" and that the House of Lords is an important tradition. Some practices are outdated and have been dropped, but he said many customs "are a rather nice link between the past and future."

As Renton heads toward his 98th birthday, he said he has every plan to outlast those with the "narrow-minded attitude" that lifetime appointments should be a thing of the past. "Democracy," he said, "has its limitations."