Life Peerages Act 1958 Life Peerages Act 1958 The Life Peerages Act 1958 established the modern standards for the creation of life peers by the monarch of the United Kingdom. This Act was made during the Conservative governments of 1957–1964, when Harold Macmillan was Prime Minister. Elizabeth II had ascended to the throne just over five years before the Act. The Conservatives tried to introduce life peerages to modernise the House of Lords, give it more legitimacy, and respond to a decline in its numbers and attendance. The Labour Party opposed the Life Peerages Bill on Second Reading: Hugh Gaitskell made an impassioned speech
The Prime Minister Was a Spy The Prime Minister Was a Spy The Prime Minister Was a Spy is a 1983 book by British writer Anthony Grey. The book's premise is that Harold Holt, Prime Minister of Australia from 1966 to 1967, was a lifelong spy for the Chinese government, under both the Nationalist and Communist regimes. Its most famous claim is that Holt faked his own death – rather than drowning, he boarded a Chinese submarine stationed off the Australian coast and lived the rest of his life in Beijing. The book was widely ridiculed upon its release, and has been identified as containing numerous