Two hereditaries - and the life peer who brokered their temporary reprieve - are among 12 Lords members of a joint committee that will draw up options for the future composition and powers of the House of Lords, Andrew Evans reported in The House Magazine on Monday.

The Tories have chosen the Earl of Selborne, while the crossbenchers have picked Viscount Bledisloe and life peer Lord Weatherill. The committee includes four Labour peers, four Tories, two Lib Dems, and two crossbenchers, but no bishops.

MPs, nearly half of whom have declared their support for a "wholly or substantially elected" second chamber, will nominate their 12 members of the joint committee on Wednesday.

Labour has chosen former chief whip Lord Carter, ex-MP and ex-minister Lord Archer of Sandwell QC, and former trades union leaders Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe and Baroness Gibson of Market Rasen.

The Tories have picked ex-cabinet ministers Lord Forsyth of Drumlean and Lord Howe of Aberavon, both former MPs, former Barbican Centre chief Baroness O'Cathain, and former science and technology committee chairman Lord Selborne.

The Lib Dems selected their legal and constitutional affairs spokesman, Lord Goodhart QC, and investment director Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay

The crossbenchers have nominated former Commons Speaker Lord Weatherill, who brokered the Lab/Con deal in 1998 for the temporary retention of 92 hereditaries, and farmer and QC Lord Bledisloe.

Lord Howe is a leading opponent of elected peers, having warned frequently against creating "clones of the clowns" in the Commons. Lord Weatherill has floated the option of no change whilst Lord Bledisloe is a stout defender of the crossbenches.

Most of the 12 peers, among them Lord Selborne, have not been prominent in recent debates on Lords reform. But their personal views are unlikely to affect the outcome significantly, as they are bound to "have regard to" future free votes in both Houses.

The Lord Chancellor has declared the government's intention to legislate "in the light of" the joint committee's proposals and the free votes.

But ministers have not actually promised to implement the joint committee's recommendations.