Theatre impresario, who was given peerage in 1997, says his busy schedule is incompatible with demands of House of Lords

The theatre impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber has quit as a Conservative peer, saying his busy schedule is incompatible with the demands of the House of Lords with crucial Brexit legislation ahead.

Lloyd Webber, whose musicals include Cats and Phantom of the Opera, was given a peerage in 1997 but has not spoken in the House of Lords this year and only votes occasionally.

In a letter sent to the Conservative chief whip, Lloyd Webber said he was currently in the busiest period of his career, including long periods in the US, which meant he was unable to commit to attending key votes in the future.

“I have been privileged to be a member of the house for 20 years and resign with a heavy heart, but in the knowledge that what is expected from a member today is very different from what it was when I joined the house in 1997,” he wrote in the letter.

“I have a work schedule stretching ahead of me that is the busiest of my career to date. This means it would be impossible for me to regularly vote or properly consider the vitally important issues that the House of Lords will face as a consequence of Brexit.”

Records show Lloyd Webber has not contributed to the Lords more than a handful of times a year over the past decade and has voted in just 2% of votes in the house. The composer, whose wealth is estimated at £650m, said: “I feel my place should be taken by someone who can devote the time to the House of Lords that the current situation dictates.”

In 2015, Lloyd Webber was criticised for returning from the US to vote against a Lords amendment that would have delayed George Osborne’s tax credits cut for three years. Despite his vote the amendment passed.

He later said he considered quitting the Conservative party after Osborne convinced him to vote on the amendment, saying last year: “I thought it was wrong.”

He went on: “I was put in as an honour, not as a working peer. Not as lobby fodder. I’m fed up with the fact that I keep being asked now to go in and vote for things about which I don’t have knowledge.”

His last speech in the chamber was in July last year, shortly after the EU referendum, warning of the dangers of a breakdown of European co-operation.

“By quitting Europe, I fear that we are hastening Putin’s dream of the break-up of the EU – and with it, potentially, western civilisation,” he said at the time.

The composer largely confined his parliamentary activity to the arts and funding for creative industries and education, but other topics have been eclectic, including advertising hoardings, prostate cancer and the route of the A339.

Lloyd Webber currently has two shows touring the US – School of Rock and Love Never Dies – as well as three shows playing on Broadway. School of Rock and Phantom of the Opera are also running in the West End.

The US broadcaster NBC is making a live-action version of his musical Jesus Christ Superstar to air in Easter 2018, which will be produced by Lloyd Webber and co-creator Tim Rice. Lloyd Webber’s autobiography, Unmasked, will be published in March 2018.

Downing Street declined to comment on Lloyd Webber’s resignation.