Letter: End of the peers?

Sir: I see ("Blair to forfeit patronage monopoly", 25 November) that David Willetts, the Conservative education spokesperson, believes that before dispensing with our hereditary legislators "we need to see ... that the second chamber is genuinely democratic".

May I ask Mr Willetts to tell us when his party ever proposed such democratisation during the many years that it had the power to legislate for it? Or is the Conservative Party, like the lords themselves, waving the flag of democracy only to impede democracy?