Page "Prime Minister of the United Kingdom" Paragraph 70

Second, the Bill reduced the Lords ' power by eliminating many of their pocket boroughs and creating new ones where they had no influence.

Weakened, they were unable to prevent the passage of more comprehensive electoral reforms in 1867, 1884, 1918 and 1928 when universal equal suffrage was achieved.

Disraeli and Gladstone Race to Pass the Reform Bill, Punch, 1867 The rivalry between Disraeli and Gladstone helped to identify the position of Prime Minister with specific personalities.

( Disraeli is in the lead looking back over his shoulder at Gladstone.

) Ultimately, this erosion of power led to the Parliament Act of 1911 that marginalised the Lords ' role in the legislative process and crystallised the convention that had developed over the previous century that a Prime Minister cannot sit in the House of Lords.

The last to do so was Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, from 1895 to 1902.

Throughout the 19th century, governments led from the Lords had often suffered difficulties governing alongside ministers sat in the Commons.