Before Lord Cave spoke, however, the Duke of Marlborough argued
in a lively speech for leaving things alone and Lord Arran for quite different reasons agreed with the Duke. The Peers could never control finance—the only real road to an increase of power—and really the only way of suppressing revolutionaries was through the disillusionment of the people. He added that it might be just worth while to abolish the hereditary principle altogether as the one possible way of making the people respect the Upper House. Lord Cave explained that the Cabinet Committee on House of Lords Reform had already reported and that he now wished to present certain proposals on which a Government measure would be based. The Parliament Act would not be repealed, but its less controversial and more glaring defects would be amended.
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