{"id":17014,"date":"2025-04-30T14:50:24","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T13:50:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/?p=17014"},"modified":"2025-05-01T10:10:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T09:10:15","slug":"the-house-of-lords-act-1999","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/2025\/04\/30\/the-house-of-lords-act-1999\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A negative achievement\u2019: Behind the scenes of the House of Lords Act 1999"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ahead of major pieces of legislation designed to reform the composition of the House of Lords, and our recent event ‘Reforming the House of Lords’ discussing the history of this tricky issue, Dr Emma Peplow<\/a>, Head of Contemporary History, draws upon our Oral History Project<\/a> to revisit the last time significant reforms were introduced.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The House of Lords Act 1999 was the last major reform to membership of the House of Lords; removing the rights of all but 92 hereditary peers to sit in the House. This act was intended to be a \u2018first stage\u2019 but since then other attempts to reform the Chamber have stalled. The presence of any hereditary peers in parliament at all has been called \u2018undemocratic and indefensible\u2019 by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer [BBC News, 5 September 2024<\/a>], and the government included a bill in the July 2024 King\u2019s Speech that would remove them entirely [Lords Library, 6 November 2024<\/a>].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost since it passed, the 1999 Act has been criticised as a missed opportunity. Alexandra Kelso has argued that 1997 Labour government \u2013 who enjoyed a huge majority in the Commons and considerably popularity \u2013 had an \u2018irrational fear\u2019 that the Lords would hold up their governmental programme if reform was pursued, and \u2018shrank\u2019 from more ambitious measures [Kelso, 2011, p.111]. Subsequently the elections to choose which hereditary peers kept their seats, and to replace members when they died, have been described by Donald Shell as \u2018nonsense\u2019 [Shell, 2000, p.300]. However, reforming membership of the Lords is fraught with controversy, and consensus about what the House should<\/em> look like is hard to reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without understanding the context of the 1999 House of Lords Act the current composition of the chamber indeed seems rather strange. The decision to save 92 hereditary peers was largely due to behind the scenes negotiations between leading Conservative and Labour peers. The back and forth of negotiations is described by the journalist Michael Cockerell in a 2001 article for the Journal of Legislative Studies<\/em>, written based on interviews Cockerell held for a BBC documentary \u2018The Lady and the Lords\u2019. Our own oral history project<\/a> has interviews with two of the key protagonists of these talks: Ivor, Lord Richard, who was Leader of the Lords from 1997-98, and Lord Cranborne, now the 7th<\/sup> Marquess of Salisbury, who led the Conservative peers. Their reflections in our archive suggest further insights into the complicated politics around the 1999 Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1997 the Labour party were elected with a manifesto commitment to reform the House of Lords in a two-stage process. The \u2018initial, self-contained reform\u2019 promised to remove \u2018the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote [\u2026] by statute\u2019 [Labour Party, 1997]. Whilst this was clearly understood as the start of the process, no detail was included on further reforms. This was a significant change from the 1992 Labour manifesto, which had promised a largely elected House of Lords. A reform bill was not introduced in New Labour\u2019s first parliamentary session, which was dominated by other constitutional changes such as devolution in Scotland and Wales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, behind the scenes in 1997 and 1998 talks were already underway between the leaders of the two parties in the Lords. In Salisbury\u2019s 2016 interview for our oral history archive, he remembered that after the 1997 landslide he had accepted that Lords reform was coming, and hoped to reach a compromise to secure both stages of reform. He wanted to avoid a situation where hereditary peers were removed (stage one) with no former reform to follow: \u2018unless we had some reminder that we still needed stage two, then we\u2019d just have stage one and a purely nominated House\u2019. This was both a matter of principle and of politics, he remembered, as it was easier to unite pro- and anti-reform peers behind the position \u2018no stage one without stage two\u2019. In this extract from his interview, Salisbury explained his tactics, as discussed with his then party leader, William Hague:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"A<\/a>
Lords Salisbury <\/em>(C) History of Parliament<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
Lord Salisbury interviewed by Emme Ledgerwood, 2015-16, C1503\/131\u00a0[4, 00:26:10-00:27:15]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Salisbury proceeded to disrupt the government\u2019s legislative programme in their first parliamentary session, notably the European Elections Bill, which was later forced through using the powers of the Parliament Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the Labour side, our 2015 interview with Lord Richard also discussed the behind the scenes negotiations. In line with Salisbury\u2019s reflections, the two sides believed they were getting \u2018somewhat near a settlement\u2019 on the full reform package in summer 1998:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ivor Richard interviewed by Emma Peplow, 2015, C1503\/114 [2, 2:03:45-2:05:45]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As Richard mentions, at this point he was sacked as Labour leader in the Lords. Both he and Salisbury later reflected that this must have been because of opposition to an elected upper chamber at the very top of the New Labour government. This testimony suggests that rather than being \u2018frightened\u2019 into accepting hereditary peers in a newly-constituted House of Lords, the government were equally resistant to agreeing to an elected chamber, a deal the peers themselves were close to reaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Richard gone, his place in the negotiations was taken by Blair\u2019s close ally, the Lord Chancellor Derry Irvine. Salisbury describes the \u2018utterly loopy\u2019 negotiations to agree that 92 hereditary peers would remain: 10% of the hereditary peerage, with 15 further peers to man committees in the \u2018interim\u2019 period before further reform, and then adding in the Earl Marshall and Lord Chamberlain.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"A<\/a>
William Hague and Lord Salisbury (then Lord Cranborne) prior to 1999<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

However, just before this deal was agreed and a bill to reform the Lords included in the 1998 Queen\u2019s Speech, Conservative leader William Hague and a select group of his shadow cabinet rejected the deal. Instead, they wanted Salisbury and the Conservative Lords to continue to resist any<\/em> reform. In our interview, Salisbury explained why he would not continue to do so. Firstly, he clearly accepted that Lords membership needed reform, but was opposed to a purely nominated chamber. Secondly, and importantly, he thought resisting all reform would be unconstitutional. The amount of opposition the Lords could give to an elected government was (and is still) governed by the terms of the \u2018Salisbury convention\u2019. This had been most recently defined by Salisbury\u2019s grandfather, the 5th<\/sup> Marquess (Conservative leader in the Lords 1942-1957): the Lords would not oppose a government bill if it had appeared in their manifesto. In his interview with us, the 7th<\/sup> Marquess respected this as \u2018grandfather\u2019s convention\u2019, and was not prepared to ignore it. Salisbury had spent a significant part of his childhood living with his grandfather when his own parents were away in Africa, and spoke about him with pride during his interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, Salisbury\u2019s next decision to save his deal with Irvine was unorthodox, as he explains in this extract:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lord Salisbury interviewed by Emme Ledgerwood, 2015-16, C1503\/131 [4, 00:31:05-00:31:35]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What followed was an extraordinary sequence of events where Salisbury dealt directly with his opponents in Number 10, including Blair and his chief of communications Alistair Campbell, to ensure his deal remained whether Hague wanted it or not. Salisbury and Campbell agreed the plan to save the 92 hereditary peers should be introduced as a crossbench amendment to the government\u2019s bill, according to reporting in the Times<\/em> the following week as an attempt to \u2018bounce\u2019 Hague into accepting it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the day the crossbench amendment was due to be announced, however, a furious Hague discovered that Salisbury had gone behind his back. Trying to seize the initiative, Hague announced the proposed deal to a shocked House of Commons at Prime Minister\u2019s Questions, accusing Blair of reneging on his promise to remove all hereditary peers and trying to create a Lords full of \u2018Tony\u2019s Cronies\u2019. Unfortunately for Hague, however, he had acted without knowing the feelings of Conservative peers. Instead of backing Hague they supported the deal to save 92 hereditary peers: indeed Hague was only able to secure a new Leader in the Lords (Lord Strathclyde, Salisbury\u2019s close ally) and keep his front bench by agreeing that they could vote for the deal. Hague had to back down and ended up harangued on Newsnight<\/em> over the whole episode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This proved to be the end of Salisbury\u2019s career in the Lords. Unsurprisingly sacked by Hague, he later retired from the House so as \u2018not to cause trouble\u2019 for Strathclyde. In his diary, Alistair Campbell expressed astonishment at Salisbury\u2019s motives:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I still could not fully understand why he would do this \u2013 he didn\u2019t know me from Adam, and what he did know he probably didn\u2019t like and yet we had just sat down and agreed a line-by-line plan that he must know would damage his leadership, help us through a difficulty, and \u2026 he was going to be implicated. [Campbell, 30 November 1998, p.578]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From our interview these motives seem a lot clearer. At the end of the interview he reflected that he was \u2018pleased\u2019 with the outcome even if it was \u2018a negative achievement\u2019 as \u2018if Blair had been able to go full-bloodedly for a stage one reform plan he might put the thing to bed for the foreseeable future\u2019. Salisbury then laughed as he realised \u2018You could say that he did that anyway! 17 years later, or whatever it is\u2019 the Lords remains the same. Instead of being frightened into accepting that hereditary peers remain, the Labour government did create a mostly-nominated chamber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E.P.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Download ALT text for all audio clips here <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further Reading <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Alistair Campbell, The Alistair Campbell Diaries, Volume Two: Power and the People, 1997-1999<\/em> (London: Arrow, 2001).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Cockerell, \u2018The Politics of Second Chamber Reform: A Case Study of the House of Lords and the Passage of the House of Lords Act 1999\u2019, Journal of Legislative Studies<\/em> 7:1 (2001), 119-134.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexandra Kelso, \u2018Stages and Muddles: The House of Lords Act 1999\u2019, Parliamentary History<\/em> 30:1 (2011), 101-113.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Labour Party, New Labour: Because Britain Deserves Better<\/em> (1997) [Accessed online: http:\/\/www.labour-party.org.uk\/manifestos\/1997\/1997-labour-manifesto.shtml<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald Shell, \u2018Labour and the House of lords: A Case Study in Constitutional Reform\u2019, Parliamentary Affairs<\/em> 53:2 (2000), 290-310.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ahead of major pieces of legislation designed to reform the composition of the House of Lords, and our recent event ‘Reforming the House of Lords’ discussing the history of this tricky issue, Dr Emma Peplow, Head of Contemporary History, draws upon our Oral History Project to revisit the last time significant reforms were introduced. The House of Lords Act 1999 was the last major reform … Continue reading \u2018A negative achievement\u2019: Behind the scenes of the House of Lords Act 1999<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41328208,"featured_media":17051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[774275544,4406049,774276090,165907480,774276107],"tags":[35890,284412,774276108,774276111,1954,774276109,11740240,11881090],"class_list":["post-17014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-contemporary-history","category-20th-century-history","category-legislative-history","category-post-1945-history","category-tony-blair","tag-featured","tag-house-of-lords","tag-house-of-lords-act-1999","tag-ivor-lord-richard","tag-labour-party","tag-marquess-of-salisbury","tag-oral-history-interview","tag-oral-history-project"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Lord-Salisbury-2.jpg?fit=4000%2C3000&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2QYNW-4qq","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4039,"url":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/2020\/01\/21\/the-history-of-parliament-trust-is-on-youtube\/","url_meta":{"origin":17014,"position":0},"title":"The History of Parliament Trust is on YouTube","author":"History of Parliament","date":"January 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Coming up in 2020 the History of Parliament Trust has exciting plans for the expansion of our online resources, the first of which is our new YouTube channel\u2026 Throughout 2019 at the History of Parliament our Public Engagement Team and the House of Commons 1832-68 project (@TheVictCommons) worked with the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Resources and Publications"","block_context":{"text":"Resources and Publications","link":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/category\/topics\/resources\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Holding-Featured-Image-4.jpeg?fit=1200%2C658&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Holding-Featured-Image-4.jpeg?fit=1200%2C658&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Holding-Featured-Image-4.jpeg?fit=1200%2C658&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Holding-Featured-Image-4.jpeg?fit=1200%2C658&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Holding-Featured-Image-4.jpeg?fit=1200%2C658&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":18174,"url":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/2025\/08\/14\/lords-reform-a-victorian-perspective\/","url_meta":{"origin":17014,"position":1},"title":"House of Lords reform: a Victorian perspective","author":"Philip Salmon","date":"August 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Unlike the House of Commons, which underwent major \u2018democratic\u2019 reform in the 19th century, the Lords remained virtually unchanged during the entire Victorian period. With a new hereditary peers bill now entering its final stages, Dr Philip Salmon explores how and why the House of Lords was able to survive\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Victorian Commons"","block_context":{"text":"Victorian Commons","link":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/category\/sections\/victorian-commons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/main.00eb69f8.the_trial_of_queen_caroline_1820.3b281d58.jpg?fit=1200%2C792&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/main.00eb69f8.the_trial_of_queen_caroline_1820.3b281d58.jpg?fit=1200%2C792&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/main.00eb69f8.the_trial_of_queen_caroline_1820.3b281d58.jpg?fit=1200%2C792&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/main.00eb69f8.the_trial_of_queen_caroline_1820.3b281d58.jpg?fit=1200%2C792&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/main.00eb69f8.the_trial_of_queen_caroline_1820.3b281d58.jpg?fit=1200%2C792&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":18563,"url":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/2025\/09\/17\/the-role-and-power-of-the-victorian-house-of-lords\/","url_meta":{"origin":17014,"position":2},"title":"The role and power of the Victorian House of Lords","author":"Philip Salmon","date":"September 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Dr Philip Salmon looks at a key element of Parliament which we don't usually have much opportunity to reflect on in our work on Victorian MPs and constituencies: the House of Lords. As he explains below, the upper chamber played a vital role in many important 19th century reforms and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Victorian Commons"","block_context":{"text":"Victorian Commons","link":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/category\/sections\/victorian-commons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/POW_POW_2801-001.jpg?fit=1200%2C728&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/POW_POW_2801-001.jpg?fit=1200%2C728&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/POW_POW_2801-001.jpg?fit=1200%2C728&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/POW_POW_2801-001.jpg?fit=1200%2C728&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/POW_POW_2801-001.jpg?fit=1200%2C728&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2147,"url":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/2018\/01\/24\/the-second-reform-act-of-1867-party-interest-or-the-road-to-democracy-a-debate-between-rt-hon-the-lord-adonis-and-kwasi-kwarteng-mp\/","url_meta":{"origin":17014,"position":3},"title":"\u2018The Second Reform Act of 1867: party interest or the road to democracy?\u2019: A debate between Rt. Hon. The Lord Adonis and Kwasi Kwarteng MP","author":"History of Parliament","date":"January 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Last Tuesday the History of Parliament hosted our annual lecture in Westminster - also our new Director, Dr Stephen Roberts\u2019 first event. The event focused on the Second Reform Act of 1867 in the wake of its 150th anniversary in 2017. This year we approached proceedings differently to the traditional\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Victorian"","block_context":{"text":"Victorian","link":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/category\/periods\/victorian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Holding-Featured-Image-4.jpeg?fit=1200%2C658&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Holding-Featured-Image-4.jpeg?fit=1200%2C658&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Holding-Featured-Image-4.jpeg?fit=1200%2C658&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Holding-Featured-Image-4.jpeg?fit=1200%2C658&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Holding-Featured-Image-4.jpeg?fit=1200%2C658&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3480,"url":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/2019\/08\/16\/protest-against-the-six-acts\/","url_meta":{"origin":17014,"position":4},"title":"Protest Against the Six Acts","author":"History of Parliament","date":"August 16, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"On this day in 1819 the massacre that was soon dubbed 'Peterloo' by the press occurred on St Peter's Field in Manchester. The Manchester and Salford Yeomanry\u00a0and the 15th Hussars, a British Army cavalry regiment, killed at least 18 people and injured a further 600+ after being called to disperse\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Georgian"","block_context":{"text":"Georgian","link":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/category\/periods\/georgian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/peterloo-scan-3.jpg?fit=947%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/peterloo-scan-3.jpg?fit=947%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/peterloo-scan-3.jpg?fit=947%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/peterloo-scan-3.jpg?fit=947%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8145,"url":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/2021\/09\/30\/the-reformed-commons-1833\/","url_meta":{"origin":17014,"position":5},"title":"‘Restless, turbulent, and bold’: Radical MPs and the opening of the reformed Commons in 1833","author":"History of Parliament","date":"September 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"MPs and peers returned to Westminster earlier this month after over a year of upheaval, disruption, and online chambers. In today's blog Dr Stephen Ball from our Commons 1832-1868 project looks into another eagerly awaited return to Parliament; the first session following the 1832 Reform Act... When the reformed Parliament\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Victorian Commons"","block_context":{"text":"Victorian Commons","link":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/category\/sections\/victorian-commons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/sb-reformed-commons-marchofreform.png?fit=991%2C762&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/sb-reformed-commons-marchofreform.png?fit=991%2C762&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/sb-reformed-commons-marchofreform.png?fit=991%2C762&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/sb-reformed-commons-marchofreform.png?fit=991%2C762&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41328208"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17014"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17069,"href":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17014\/revisions\/17069"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}