Iain Duncan Smith has called for the House of Lords to be turned into a senate-style chamber with an elected majority of representatives.

The Conservative leader accused Labour of creating a "web of cronyism", arguing that there was "an almost 18th-century feel to Mr Blair's fondness for favouritism".

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Duncan Smith claimed that "only bold proposals can challenge this government's increasing contempt for our parliamentary institutions". Under the Tory proposals, the existing 92 hereditary peers would keep their titles "but would play no part in making laws" and elected representatives would serve 15-year terms.

Labour hit back by accusing the Conservatives of "hypocrisy", Tony Blair told the BBC: "Just so that people again understand, I am the first prime minister who has given up power of patronage in the House of Lords. I no longer, as John Major did, as Margaret Thatcher did, nominate the independent peers, that's done by an independent body now".