Lord Aberdare elected to sit in Lords after hereditary peers by-election

The Clerk of the Parliaments announced the result of the by-election to elect a Cross-Bench hereditary Peer yesterday.

As part of the reform of the Lords since 1999, 92 hereditary peers are elected to sit alongside the life peers and Lords Spiritual and the Law Lords.

This makes them the only members of the House who are elected.

Vacancies are filled on party lines.

An election amongst all crossbench hereditary peers who are members of the House of Lords was held.

27 Lords of the 29 who are eligible completed valid ballot papers.

The successful candidate was Lord Aberdare.

He worked for IBM for 21 years in the UK, USA and Belgium. He has been a Trustee of the National Botanic Garden of Wales and of the Barnes Music Society, and is currently Treasurer of the Berlioz Society, a member of the Cultural Affairs Committee of the English-Speaking Union and of the Council of the National Opera Studio, and a Fellow of the RSA (Royal Society of Arts) and the Royal Geographical Society.

He replaces Christopher Hiley Ludlow Bathurst, 3rd Viscount Bledisloe, QC, who died in May.

Alastair John Lyndhurst Bruce, 5th Baron Aberdare, inherited his title on the death of his father in 2005.

The 4th Baron was an elected hereditary Conservative peer from 1999.