Prime Minister of the United Kingdom retirement from the Commons, which elevates the individual to the House of Lords. Formerly, the peerage bestowed was usually an earldom, with Churchill offered a dukedom. From the 1960s onward, life peerages were preferred, although in 1984 Harold Macmillan was created Earl of Stockton. Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Harold Wilson, James Callaghan and Margaret Thatcher accepted life peerages, although Douglas-Home had previously disclaimed his hereditary title as Earl of Home. Edward Heath did not accept a peerage of any kind and nor have any of the Prime Ministers to retire since 1990; although Heath and Major were later appointed as Knights
Life peer Life Peerages Act has the right to sit in the House of Lords, provided he or she is at least 21 years of age, is not suffering punishment upon conviction for treason and is a citizen of the United Kingdom, or the Republic of Ireland or of a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, and is resident in the UK for tax purposes. Life baronies under the Life Peerages Act are created by the Sovereign but, in practice, none are granted except upon the proposition of the Prime Minister. Life peers created under the Life Peerages Act do not, unless