1911: After battle over Lloyd George's budget Lords lose power to delay money bills or most bills more than two years. Full reform promised shortly.
1949: Lords block Labour steel nationalisation plans. Delaying power cut to one year.
1958: First life peers created by Harold Macmillan. Women peers arrive.
Hereditaries stay on.
1968: Labour government's ambitious plans to get rid of hereditaries scuppered by left-right alliance of Enoch Powell and Michael Foot in Commons.
1995: Peers start new phase of self-reform. Cross-bencher Earl of Carnarvon publishes booklet, The Second Chamber.
1996: Lord Weatherill, cross-bencher and former Speaker, opens suggestions book for ideas. Lord Weatherill, Earl of Carnarvon and Lord Marsh join forces and open discussion with Labour and Tories.
1997: Labour manifesto promises early abolition of hereditary voting rights as part of wider reform.
November 18 1998: Lords defeat European elections bill for fifth time, precipitating a constitutional crisis. Tension between Lord Cranborne, Tory leader in the Lords and Hague over tactics.
November 27: Cranborne goes behind Hague's back to Downing Street to clinch deal which shadow colleagues told him not to make.
December 2: Hague learns of the deceit and sacks Cranborne. January 20, 1999: Government announces plans for reform of the lords.