Keir Starmer’s ex-spin chief and Rachel Reeves’ former high aide get peerages as PM once more swells Labour’s ranks within the House of Lords – whereas Tories hand seat to Sharron Davies

Sir Keir Starmer today handed peerages to his former spin chief and Chancellor Rachel Reeves‘ ex-chief of staff.

The Prime Minister on Wednesday announced he was creating a total of 25 new peerages as he once again swelled Labour‘s ranks in the House of Lords.

Among those being given seats in Parliament’s upper chamber are Matthew Doyle, who served as Sir Keir’s director of communications until March this year.

Katie Martin, who was the Chancellor’s top aide until last month, is also being handed a job for life in the Lords.

Richard Walker, chairman of the Iceland supermarket chain, and Sir Michael Barber, the PM’s adviser on ‘effective delivery’, are also among the 25 new peers.

Meanwhile, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has made three nominations for peerages.

They are former Olympic swimmer and women’s rights activist Sharron Davies, John Redwood, the Tory ex-Cabinet minister, and journalist and historian Simon Heffer.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey nominated five new peers, but there were none for Reform UK despite a recent request by party leader Nigel Farage.

Sir Keir Starmer has handed peerages to his former spin chief and Chancellor Rachel Reeves ‘ ex-chief of staff

The blitz of appointments to the Lords comes after the Government faced staunch opposition from peers over its flagship workers’ rights legislation.

It also comes despite Sir Keir having once promised to ‘abolish’ the Lords.

The Labour leader later watered down his plans and only pledged in his party’s general election manifesto to ‘consult’ on creating an elected upper chamber.

Sir Keir has now appointed 62 new Labour peers since becoming PM less than 18 months ago.

A Labour source suggested the PM would continue to make appointments to the Lords in a bid to stop opposition peers from blocking the Government’s legislation.

They 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.’

It was recently claimed that Sir Keir is on track to ‘eliminate’ opposition to his Labour Government’s agenda in the Lords within two years.

Nikki da Costa, a former adviser to Tory PMs Theresa May and Boris Johnson, said: ‘With the removal of the hereditary peers, and the pace at which Labour are appointing peers, they are on track to eliminate all defeats by 2027. 

‘Clearly that’s the plan.’

Also included in Labour’s list of new peers is Carol Linforth, the former Labour Party chief of staff.

She is the Labour staffer who could be seen removing Sir Keir’s jacket when he was glitter-bombed during his keynote conference speech in 2023.

Sir Michael headed Tony Blair’s delivery unit in No10 and returned to a government role as an adviser to Sir Keir last year.

Mr Walker is a former Tory donor who was a prospective Conservative MP little more than three years ago.

But, in a remarkable change of political allegiance, he later backed Sir Keir to become PM ahead of last year’s general election and is now set to be a Labour peer.

The Lib Dems’ five nominations for peerages include former MP and coalition government minister, Sarah Teather.

Two of the Lib Dem nominations, Lord Addington and Earl Russell, currently sit in the upper chamber as hereditary peers.

The party has granted them life peerages to continue in their roles once the Government’s current plans to abolish the rights of the hereditary peers to sit in the Lords becomes law.

Similarly, Crossbench peer the Earl of Kinnoull has also been nominated for a life peerage.

In August, Mr Farage sent the PM a letter to demand he address the ‘democratic disparity’ in the Lords.

Reform had no peers in the Lords until this week when Lord Malcom Offord announced his defection from the Tories.

This was despite Reform winning more than 4 million votes at the 2024 general election and taking control of a slew of councils following local elections in May.

In his letter to Sir Keir, Mr Farage pointed out how other parties with a small number of MPs had been able to nominate peers.