Boris Johnson crony row triggers shake-up of House of Lords appointments
Labour has announced a shake-up of appointments to the House of Lords to “restore trust in politics”.
Keir Starmer’s government said political parties will now have to justify nominations to the upper chamber following years of rows over alleged cronyism.
Ex-PM Boris Johnson faced anger for handing life peerages to his former aides in No10. He also made Evegeny Lebedev, the media mogul and son of billionaire ex-KGB agent Alexander, a peer in the bloated House of Lords back in 2020.
Britain’s shortest-serving PM Liz Truss then handed out peerages to her allies – despite the turmoil her disastrous mini-Budget inflicted on the economy.
In a written statement to the Commons on Thursday, the Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said parties will now have to give public reasons for political nominations.
They will have to provide “citations” – no longer than 150 words – in order to provide “greater transparency to the public as to why an individual was nominated”.
Mr Thomas-Symonds said: “It is for party leaders to consider who is best placed to represent their party in the House of Lords when nominating individuals for appointment to the upper House.
“From today political parties will need to provide a citation for each of their nominees, which will be published on gov.uk on successful appointment.” He added: “The Government will keep the appointments system under review as we progress wider reforms to the House of Lords.”
A Labour source told The Mirror : “There were big questions about why on earth Boris Johnson was giving certain individuals seats in the House of Lords. Now parties will have to be upfront about the peerages they are creating as we rebuild trust in politics.”
Since coming to power, Labour has begun work on its reforms of the House of Lords it promised in its election manifesto.
This includes abolishing the 92 remaining hereditary peers in the upper chamber A new government Bill – aimed at finally clearing out those who inherit their titles through family ties – passed its first Commons hurdle in October.
