End of an era as Lords loses Lloyd George link

Viscount Tenby speaking in the House of Lords

Viscount Tenby has announced his retirement from the House of Lords

By David Cornock
BBC Wales Parliamentary correspondent

There will be something missing when the new parliament meets in May. The imminent retirement of crossbench peer Viscount Tenby will remove a direct link with David Lloyd George.

The third Viscount Tenby, who is 87, is taking advantage of a new law that allows members of the House of Lords to retire and will formally leave on May 1.

The peer - William Lloyd George - is the son of Gwilym Lloyd George, the former Liberal and Conservative MP who was Home Secretary in the 1950s.

He is one of 90 hereditary peers allowed to remain in the Lords under the 1999 House of Lords Act. His retirement will trigger a by-election in the Lords to choose a replacement from among those qualified by birth to replace him.

I'm grateful to the Labour History Group, who suggest that one of the possible candidates to replace him could be the 4th Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor who stood in the last Lords by-election for a cross-bench peer.