From aristocracy to ‘assetocracy’ – how wealth has transformed the House of Lords

By Huw Macartney, Associate professor in Political Economy, University of Birmingham

On April 29, 2026, the remaining hereditary peers left the House of Lords. These 92 individuals were the last vestiges of an era in which the landed aristocracy dominated the UK’s second chamber. In the recent past, as many as 800 aristocrats filled the red benches. Now though, a new financial elite appears to have taken their place.

Gradually, the dominance of the aristocrats gave way to a more meritocratic order of life peers. In 1999, Tony Blair’s government removed most…

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