It’s often claimed that in the House of Lords “all human life is there”.
And the latest list of new peers includes an Olympic swimmer, and the woman who helped Sir Keir Starmer after he had glitter thrown at him at a Labour conference.
In a widely-predicted move, the prime minister is sending 25 new Labour lords and ladies to parliament’s upper house in a bid to curb a big Tory majority.
The Conservatives have been given just three, including Sharron Davies, the women’s rights campaigner and Olympic silver medallist. The Liberal Democrats been been given five.
Labour claims that David Cameron appointed 122 peers in two years. Sir Keir, with 62 so far, is clearly plotting the end of the peer show for the Tories.
The ‘club’ with a £371-a-day allowance
The new peers are joining what’s been called “the best club in the world”, with all the trappings of opulence and luxury, not to mention a £371-a-day attendance allowance.
Even before the announcement from Downing Street, the Tories had already condemned the new appointments as “more cronyism and more reward for failure”.
Critics will point to the peerages for Labour Party and government spin doctors, local government worthies from London, and a high-profile defector from the Tories.
The Labour staffer rewarded for coming to Sir Keir’s rescue after a glitter attack at the 2023 Labour conference is Carol Linforth, the party’s former operations chief.
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The only big name from the business world is a controversial choice. Iceland Foods boss Richard Walker was a would-be Tory MP who defected to Labour in 2023.
But the cronyism charge arises out of the peerages for no fewer than five local government figures from London, an ex-MEP and three former Labour spin doctors.
Matthew Doyle, a Labour spinner under Alastair Campbell in the Tony Blair years, returned to No 10 as director of communications after working for Sir Keir in opposition.
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Catherine Macleod, a former political editor of Glasgow’s Herald newspaper, was special adviser to Alistair Darling during his turbulent years as chancellor.
Katie Martin, once a Downing Street press officer, was latterly chief of staff to Rachel Reeves.
“Katie Martin has been my most trusted adviser for nearly five years,” the chancellor said last month.
Kemi Badenoch’s nomination of Sharron Davies sends a signal that she strongly backs her high-profile campaigning on trans and gender issues.
She becomes the most high-profile sports star sent to the Lords since Lord “Beefy” Botham was sent to knock opponents for six by Boris Johnson in 2020.
Davies spoke at this autumn’s Conservative conference in Manchester in a session on gender issues in which the panel was heckled by London Assembly member Andrew Boff.
And last month, she called on Olympic bosses to toughen up plans to ban transgender athletes, and declared: “I’ve never been anti-trans in my life. I’m just pro-female.”
The other new Tory peers are the veteran Euro-sceptic Sir John Redwood, former MP for Wokingham, who challenged John Major for the Conservative leadership in 1995, and the right-wing Daily Mail and Sunday Telegraph columnist Simon Heffer.
The five Lib Dems include Sarah Teather, a former MP and junior minister in the Cameron-Clegg coalition government, and two former hereditary peers.
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Defending the appointments, a Labour source claimed that even now the Conservatives will still be the largest party in the Lords “by far”.
And right on cue, within minutes of the No 10 announcement, the government suffered a defeat yet again on the Employment Rights Bill, but 244 votes to 220, a majority of 24.
Had their 25 new Labour peers been able to vote, the government might have defeated the combined opposition of Conservatives, Lib Dems and crossbenchers by one vote.
