The British House of Lords at the Turn of the 20th Century. Evolution of its Position in the Political System

Abstract

The paper concerns the evolution of the political position of the House of Lords until the end of the 19th
century. The author presents the time of stabilisation of the relations of the two parliamentary chambers and
identifies its causes. He also discusses the increasing disruption of relations between the two chambers of
the British Parliament following from electoral reforms and, consequently, the decomposition of the hitherto
unified conservative political environment and the emergence of liberal forces. This resulted in increasingly
strong ideological and political rivalry between the conservative House of Lords and the largely liberal House
of Commons.