Critics have dubbed it a 'retirement home' for those who have failed elsewhere - and the House of Lords grew in size again ... the traditional scarlet and ermine robes for her short introduction ...

It was a case that Blair accepted back in the 1990s, although he saw the wisdom in compromising with the upper House; the party ... to whom the sight of ermine is a triggering event.

The thing about Britain, at least since 1649, is that it does revolutions nice and quietly, ideally by committee.