Rishi Sunak fingers peerage to prime aide alongside Theresa May
Rishi Sunak has handed a peerage to his right-hand man in dissolution honours announced just hours before he is expected to be ousted from power.
No10 chief of staff Liam Booth-Smith, 37, who is known as ‘the Treasury Travolta’ due to his love of a leather jacket, will enter the upper house among a slew of Tory big-hitters quitting the Commons.
The Dissolution Honours list, announced less than an hour before polls closed in the General Election, also includes former PM Theresa May and Tory backbench leader Sir Graham Brady.
More controversially there is also a peerage for Chris Grayling, a former minister nicknamed ‘failing Grayling’ by his critics after holding several senior roles.
For Labour, there is also a peerage for Harriet Harman, the long-serving former party deputy leader, who led Parliamentary efforts to censure Boris Johnson over Partygate.
No10 chief of staff Liam Booth-Smith (left), will enter the upper house among a slew of Tory big-hitters quitting the Commons.
Mr Booth-Smith is known as ‘the Treasury Travolta’ due to his love of a leather jacket
The Dissolution Honours list, announced less than an hour before polls closed in the General Election, also includes former PM Theresa May and Tory backbench leader Sir Graham Brady.
For Labour, there is also a peerage for Harriet Harman, the long-serving former party deputy leader, who led Parliamentary efforts to censure Boris Johnson over Partygate.
Former deputy speaker Dame Eleanor Laing and ex-MP Craig Mackinlay, who has battled sepsis which cost him his hands and feet, have also been given peerages.
Former Cop26 president and Cabinet minister Sir Alok Sharma has also been made a peer.
Deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden, former chief whip Julian Smith, former defence secretary Ben Wallace and Scotland secretary Alister Jack have been nominated for knighthoods.
Among Sir Keir Starmer’s other nominations for peerages are Dame Margaret Beckett, Margaret Hodge and Kevan Jones, the former defence minister.
Earlier this week it was reported that Labour is considering putting trans ally Ms Harman in charge of the equalities watchdog if it takes power.
The former deputy Labour leader, who is standing down as an MP after more than 40 years, is said to be a candidate to lead the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).
Its current leader, Baroness Falkner, has taken a tough stance on gender ideology and defended women’s rights.
But a plan for the Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch to extend a five-year term due to end in November was scuppered by Rishi Sunak calling a surprise early election.
If appointed Ms Harman will be a highly controversial choice as she is an outspoken supporter of trans rights and has said trans men cannot be fully excluded from women’s services.
In a 2022 interview with Sky the 73-year-old said: ‘I stand behind the Gender Recognition Act, so as far as I’m concerned, women are women who are born women, but women are also women who are trans women.
‘I think that we also need to recognise that in some respects there need to be same-sex services, which can be delivered and you can’t have a blanket exclusion of trans women, but in certain circumstances, in narrow circumstances, you can restrict those services.’
Mr Grayling announced he was stepping down in October, He said he had been successfully treated for prostate cancer earlier in the year and the diagnosis had led him to decide it was ‘time for a change’.
Mr Grayling has been MP for Epsom and Ewell since 2001 and served in both the Cameron and May administrations, most recently as transport secretary from 2016 to 2019.
