John Sergeant: tense meeting between Hague and Cranborne

William Hague has sacked the Tory leader in the Lords after he did a secret deal with Labour over reform of the upper House.

The announcement that Lord Cranborne was quitting his job came after the Tories were pitched into chaos over the deal to allow the government's plans to reform the Lords to go ahead.

Lord Cranborne: Sacked by William Hague

The row started when Mr Hague stunned MPs by revealing in the Commons that the government had offered to keep almost 100 hereditary peers in return for Tory co-operation in pushing through the reforms.

Mr Hague insisted the deal had been rejected and the government's "huge climbdown" showed that the prime minister had no principles on the matter.

Lord Cranborne: I acted outrageously

But Tony Blair hit back, saying the deal had been done with Lord Cranborne, proving Mr Hague was not in control of his own party.

Spokesmen later said some of the meetings had been in Downing Street and Lord Cranborne's agreement had been minuted.

And, despite Mr Hague's rejection, Tory peers later dealt him a major snub by backing their leader and the deal.

Lord Cranborne was swiftly asked to resign his job in a bid to salvage something from the Tory shambles.

William Hague revealed the secret deal to the surprise of Labour MPs

The government is committed to abolishing the rights of all 750 hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords.

The plan has been opposed by the Tories and the government fears they could use their inbuilt majority in the upper House to block the proposal and throw its parliamentary programme into disarray with guerrilla warfare over the issue.

In dark

It has now emerged that the government had been talking to Lord Cranborne about a possible compromise deal for months.

Labour backbenchers were kept in the dark and many were left fuming after the secret deal was revealed by Mr Hague.

The proposal that was eventually hammered out would have abolished 659 hereditaries' rights, but left 75 intact.

They would reflect the current balance of power by including 42 Tories, two Labour, three Liberal Democrats and 28 cross-benchers. Another 16 would be allowed to remain as officials to run the Lords.

Tony Blair hit back accusing the opposition of being split on the issue

There would then be a delay in further reform until a Royal Commission had recommended what sort of second chamber should eventually replace the Lords.

The deal was to be announced on Wednesday afternoon by cross-bencher and former Commons speaker Lord Weatherill, who had helped broker it. The government was then set to announce its support for the proposal.

Rejected deal

But William Hague ruined all that by revealing its existence during question time and declaring the Tories were against it.

His spokesman later insisted the deal had been on the cards for weeks and a meeting of senior shadow cabinet members, including Lord Cranborne, had agreed the week before the Queen's speech to reject it.

Lord Cranborne had been happy to accept the government's line, he said.

But Labour was equally adamant that the deal had been done and that Mr Hague didn't know what his own peers were up to.

And the Tory tactic, which some saw as a deliberate attempt to throw Labour off guard, appeared to have blown up in their faces.