LONDON Once upon a time Britain's House of Lords reigned almost supreme, part of a hierarchy that evolved over centuries and stretched up to the throne of Old England.

These days the attendants still mutter "My Lord" as members pass. But Lords get much less respect outside the ornate chambers of Britain's Upper House of Parliament.

Many Britons see them as port-swilling fuddy-duddies stuck in a bygone age, and the Upper House as a "model of how to care for the elderly," as former Labour minister Frank Field put it.

Acting on this perception, Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair ousted hundreds of hereditary members from the Lords in 1999.

But he kept it an appointed house, and he has appointed 30 percent of the present chamber himself.

Blair is now reported to be mulling more Lords reform as part of Labour's manifesto for an expected spring reelection campaign.

Veteran commentator Hugo Young wrote this month that Labourites were discussing further cuts in the Upper Chamber's powers. *********** The Times ********** newspaper said Blair might even pay older Lords (some are in their nineties) to clear off.

This second report had Lords leaping in anger -- "This is euthanasia!" declared Lord Strathclyde, leader of the opposition Conservatives in the chamber -- before it was denied by Labour.

------------- Nervous About Blair's Intentions -----------

Many lords are nervous about the government's intentions.

Lord Donaldson, one of England's foremost retired judges, introduced a bill last week to try to stop the House of Commons, where Blair has a huge majority, from unilaterally altering the powers of the House of Lords.

Any more reforms to the Lords should be "if at all possible, by consent of all concerned," Donaldson declared on BBC Radio.

His measure questions the validity of the Parliament act passed early in the last century, under which the Lords lost their right to kill outright legislation passed by the Commons. They can only stall, although they use this power to great effect.

In the past year the Lords have managed to block for now a bill to limit trial by jury and amend several other Labour proposals, defeating the government 36 times in all.

This happened despite the fact that Blair had appointed 206 members of the Lords himself.

------------- Uncrowned King of Ermine ------------

Blair has created more peers more quickly than any prime minister in history, leading Strathclyde to speak disparagingly of him as the "uncrowned king of ermine" -- a reference to the Lords' ermine-trimmed ceremonial robes.

Blair has also pledged a second stage of Lords reform. But Labour has not said what it will be, nor when it will arrive.

Margaret Beckett, the Labour leader in the House of Commons, has said nothing would be tabled in this session of Parliament. Normally a session would last till November, but this one is likely to be cut short by the expected election.

Strathclyde has called for a joint parliamentary committee of both chambers to discuss further reform.

"The House now stands on a cusp -- from which it may go forward to new vigor or slide into decline under increasing party domination," he declared.

He denounced Labour threats to use the Parliament act to force through a ban on the traditional sport of fox hunting.

But Beckett said Strathclyde should not be surprised if the Labour government sometimes resorts to the Parliament act.

"We've rarely seen a House of Lords that tried to defeat the government so much, and was so intransigent," she huffed.

"If they insist on behaving as if the rules are different for them, then they are bound to invite a reaction."

-------------- Blair Rules Out Elected Lords -------------

One thing that is not going to happen on Blair's watch is a fully-elected House of Lords.

Veteran Labour MP Tony Benn stood up in Parliament this month to demand that Blair give "one good reason" why a reformed second chamber should not be directly elected.

Blair replied flatly that he did not want a second chamber competing with the House of Commons.

"This chamber here (the Commons) is the proper chamber for democratic authority and control overall and that's why I do not believe in a fully-elected second chamber," Blair said.

(Reuter)