Former member of the Lords? That is right (7)
I believe the answer is:
earlier
'former' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'member of the lords? that is right' is the wordplay.
'member of the lords?' becomes 'earl' (earl is a type of peer in the House of Lords).
'that is' becomes 'ie' ('i.e.' can be a synonym of 'that is').
'right' becomes 'r' (common abbreviation).
'earl'+'ie'+'r'='EARLIER'
(Other definitions for earlier that I've seen before include "Further back in time" , "Former" , "Beforehand" , "of a bygone age?" , "Older" .)