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Keir Starmer unveils peerages as Iceland boss to affix House of Lords – see full checklist

POLITICS

Keir Starmer has appointed more than two dozen new peers as he seeks to boost Labour’s numbers in the House of Lords.

Iceland boss Richard Walker, who abandoned the Tories for Labour, was named in a political peerage list, along with ex-No10 comms chief Matthew Doyle and Rachel Reeves’s former chief of staff, Katie Martin.

Veteran Labour aide Carol Linforth is also on the list, as is Andy Roe, the chair of the national Building Safety Regulator.

Mr Starmer also nominated Joe Docherty, chair of Northern Powergrid Foundation, Nick Forbes, chair of the Breaking Down Barriers Commission, and Cllr. Dr Sara Hyde, the Fabian Society’s chair. Sir Michael Barber, who served in No10 in Sir Tony Blair’s government, is also on the list.

Despite the new peerages, the Tories are still by far the largest party in the Lords. Mr Starmer has appointed 62 peerages since being elected to Government: 25 today, 30 last December and seven for ministerial appointments. This compares to 122 peers appointed by David Cameron over a two-year period.






Sue Gray was handed a peerage in Keir Starmer's December list


Sue Gray was handed a peerage in Keir Starmer’s December list
(
PA)

A Labour source said: “⁠The Tories stuffed the House of Lords, creating a serious imbalance that has allowed them to frustrate our plans to make working families better off. This needs to be corrected to deliver on our mandate from the British people.

“We will continue to progress our programme of reform, which includes removing the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the Lords.”

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch nominated Olympic swimmer and gender critic Sharron Davies, historian and journalist Simon Heffer and a former Tory minister Sir John Redwood.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey made five nominations, including two Lib Dem hereditary peers.

In December, Mr Starmer appointed 30 new Labour peers, with gongs for former aide Sue Gray and a number of former MPs. In his first round of political honours, the Prime Minister handed a life peerage to Partygate inquisitor Ms Gray, who served as his chief of staff for less than 100 days before being ousted after a string of internal rows.

Mr Starmer also gave seats in the Lords to ex-MPs Thangam Debbonaire, Luciana Berger, Lyn Brown, Kevin Brennan, Steve McCabe and Julie Elliott, along with former Welsh first minister Carwyn Jones.

Full list:

Nominations from the Leader of the Labour Party:

  1. Andy (Andrew) Roe KSFM – Chair of the national Building Safety Regulator and former London Fire Commissioner

  2. Dame Ann Limb DBE DL – Former Further Education College Principal and former Chair, The Scouts. Pro Chancellor, University of Surrey, and Chair of City & Guilds Foundation, Lloyds Bank Foundation, and The King’s Foundation

  3. Brenda Dacres OBE – Mayor of Lewisham

  4. Carol Linforth OBE – Lately Labour Party Chief of Staff – Operations

  5. Catherine MacLeod – Former journalist and political adviser, Visiting Professor at King’s College London and Non-Executive Director at the Scotland Office

  6. David Isaac CBE – Provost of Worcester College, Oxford, Chair of the University of the Arts London, Chair of the Henry Moore Foundation, and a trustee of Cumberland Lodge

  7. David Pitt-Watson – Responsible Investment Expert. Co-founder and former CEO of the Equity Ownership Service and Focus Funds at Federated Hermes

  8. Farmida Bi CBE – Chair of Norton Rose Fulbright LLP, Vice-Chair of the Disasters Emergency Committee

  9. Professor Geeta Nargund – Founder and former Medical Director of Create Fertility. Founder and Trustee of Health Equality Foundation

  10. Katie Martin – Lately, Chief of Staff to the Chancellor of the Exchequer

  11. Joe Docherty – Chair of Northern Powergrid Foundation and Trustee, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, former Chair of Council, Durham University

  12. Len (Leonard) Duvall OBE – Chair of the London Assembly and Leader of the London Assembly Labour Group

  13. Matthew Doyle – Former Director of Communications to the Prime Minister and for the Labour Party

  14. Sir Michael Barber – Chancellor, University of Exeter and adviser to the Prime Minister on effective delivery

  15. Neena Gill CBE – Former Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands

  16. Nick (Nicholas) Forbes CBE – Chair, Breaking Down Barriers Commission and former Labour Leader, Newcastle City Council

  17. Peter Babudu – Executive Director of Impact on Urban Health, former councillor in Southwark

  18. Peter John OBE – Former Southwark Leader and former Chair of London Councils.

  19. Richard Walker OBE – Founder and Chairman, Bywater and Executive Chairman, Iceland Foods

  20. Russell Hobby CBE – CEO, The Kemnal Academies Trust, former CEO, Teach First and former General Secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers

  21. Cllr. Dr Sara Hyde – Fabian Society Chair and Islington council’s Executive Member for Health and Social Care

  22. Cllr. Shama Tatler – Brent Councillor and Vice-Chair of the London Labour Regional Executive, Patron of the Labour Housing Group and Head of the Labour Group Office at the Local Government Association

  23. Dr Sophy Antrobus MBE – Senior Research Fellow and Co-Director of the Freeman Air and Space Institute at King’s College London

  24. Tracey Paul – Chief Communications Officer at Pool Reinsurance and former policy advisor

  25. Uday Nagaraju – Technology Consultant, Politician and Founder of AI Policy Labs

Nominations from the Leader of the Liberal Democrat Party:

  1. Mike Dixon – CEO of the Liberal Democrats

  2. Dominic Hubbard (Lord Addington) – Lately Liberal Democrat hereditary Peer, President of the British Dyslexic Association and Vice President, the UK Sports Association

  3. Rhiannon Leaman – Former Chief of Staff to the Leader of the Liberal Democrats

  4. John Russell (Earl Russell) – Lately Liberal Democrat hereditary Peer, photographer

  5. Sarah Teather – Former MP, former minister and Charity CEO

Nominations from the Leader of the Conservatives:

  1. Sharron Davies MBE – Campaigner for Women’s Rights & Olympic Swimming Silver Medallist for Great Britain

  2. Simon Heffer – Professor of Modern British History at the University of Buckingham and a historian, journalist, author and political commentator

  3. The Rt Hon Sir John Redwood – Former Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament for Wokingham

Nominations for Crossbench Peerages:

1. Charles Kinnoull (The Earl of Kinnoull) DL – Convenor of the Crossbench Peers, Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords, former Chair of the House of Lords European Union Committee

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