But the Tory Party leader refused to accept their resignations.

He has appointed Opposition Chief Whip Lord Strathclyde as the new Conservative Leader in the Lords.

But, speaking on the BBC, Mr Hague denied that Lord Strathclyde had only agreed to take the job on condition that the Lords would be allowed to vote for the compromise deal over which his predecessor was sacked.

William Hague: I sacked him with a heavy heart

Mr Hague said: "The whole of the Lords front bench offered their resignations in the wake of my dismissal of Lord Cranborne.

"They did so out of loyalty to Lord Cranborne and concern about the whole issue. I have refused those resignations."

Mr Hague said he sacked Viscount Cranborne with a heavy heart. But he added: "He had to go."

Lord Cranborne "had to go" says William Hague

He said the deal between Lord Cranborne and the government had been done without his authority, and that he had made it clear to the viscount that the shadow cabinet would not approve such a deal.

Such a demand by such a powerful party figure would have deepened the split in the party facing Mr Hague over the issue of a deal with Labour.

'Don't tie our hands'

"There's no disagreement between Lord Strathclyde and myself," Mr Hague told BBC Two's Newsnight.

"Let me make the position absolutely clear: of course we welcome the concession - the U-turn - that the government have made today and of course we won't oppose that particular part of it."

He went on: "What I'm not prepared to accept is that because they've made that concession, which is fine, is that that ties our hands to do with everything else on it."

William Hague says the deal did not have his authority

He said the deal would have constrained the Tories' freedom to oppose all government proposals for Lords reform.

And Mr Hague defended his sacking of Lord Cranborne on the grounds that the deal had been done without his authority.

He also issued a warning to other party members tempted to rebel: "I'm rebuilding the Conservative Party on the basis of some discipline which has sometimes been lacking in the past few years. Even if it causes us some short-term embarrassment I'm going to have some discipline in this party."

Mr Hague could not rule out more resignations.

The Tory leader acknowledged that to have put Parliament before the party would have been noble, but said it would have been playing into the government's hands.

He also denied that the crisis cast doubts over his own leadership if he could not control one of his own party members, saying he was rebuilding the party.

'Spectacular U-turn'

And Mr Hague took another swipe at Labour plans to scrap hereditary peers, saying: "We have to make sure the whole Conservative Party works together in putting forward the real objections to what the government is doing to the constitution of this country, which is blundering about without a clue as to where they are going.

"Nothing in their spectacular U-turn - spectacular climbdown - today meets that fundamental objection."

The deal with the government was hammered out after months of talks with Lord Cranborne and without the knowledge of backbenchers on either side.

Under it, the voting rights of 659 hereditary peers would be abolished with 75 left intact.

They would reflect the current balance of power by including 42 Tories, 2 Labour, 3 Liberal Democrat and 28 crossbenchers. Another 16 would be allowed to remain as officials to run the Lords.

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

Lord Strathclyde, the Tory chief whip in the Lords, is a hereditary peer who has been a driving force behind the Conservatives' obstruction of plans to reform the second chamber.

He has been a key figure in William Hague's shake-up of the Tory Party since the 1997 election, heading the commission reorganising the Scottish Conservative Party, which lost all its seats.