Former MP John Thurso elected to Lords after Lib Dem by-election
Viscount Thurso has been elected to the House of Lords after a rare by-election among Liberal Democrat hereditary peers.
Viscount Thurso has been elected to the House of Lords after a rare by-election among Liberal Democrat hereditary peers.
Lord Thurso won the votes of all three peers entitled to vote in the by-election triggered by the death of Lord Avebury.
He was a member of the Lords for four years between 1995 and 1999 before losing his seat when Labour's reforms axed most hereditary members.
He then served as MP for Caithness and Sutherland for 14 years from 2001 until last May after becoming the first hereditary peer allowed to sit in the Commons without first disclaiming his title.
There were six other candidates in the by-election which was branded a "farce" by critics.
Reforms to the Lords left just 92 hereditary peers in place. Since then vacancies arising from the death of members have been filled through a series of by-elections.