Corbyn made to wait on Lords nominations

JEREMY CORBYN will be made to wait over his controversial decision to nominate John Bercow, Karie Murphy and Tom Watson for peerages, it emerged last night.

A special Lords vetting committee is set to meet on Tuesday over a raft of peers proposed by the Labour leader and Boris Johnson.

But Government sources revealed that the final list, originally expected by Friday, had been postponed ‘for weeks’.

It follows a row over Mr Corbyn’s shock bid to use three of his Labour nominations to send former Speaker Mr Bercow, his former chief of staff Ms Murphy and ex-deputy party leader Mr Watson to the Lords.

All three nominations have sparked bitter protests and predictions that the Lords’ appointments commission will be unable to approve them.

Mr Bercow has been plunged into a new furore over bullying accusations – claims he has repeatedly denied – while critics say Ms Murphy’s peerage must wait until an inquiry into Labour’s handling of antisemitism complaints is published by equality watchdogs.

The vetting commission is also facing calls to refuse to send Mr Watson to the Upper House over his role in the row over false claims of a VIP paedophile ring made by Carl Beech. An official report found that Mr Watson had put pressure on detectives to investigate the allegations of Beech, who was later jailed for 18 years for offences including perverting the course of justice.

The Mail on Sunday revealed last week how David Janner, whose late father Greville was caught up in the false claims, had denounced Mr Watson’s proposed peerage as ‘wrong and inappropriate’.

Mr Johnson has also sparked fury by including controversial ex-party treasurer Peter Cruddas, once caught up in a ‘cash for access’ row, along with two former Labour MPs – Ian Austin and John Woodcock – who quit the party and urged voters to back the Tories at the Election.

Candidates to succeed Mr Corbyn showed their claws yesterday, with Emily Thornberry and Rebecca Long Bailey taking swipes at each other during a hustings event in Nottingham.

Ms Long Bailey cried ‘maiow’ after Ms Thornberry mocked her rival’s claims that she had had to work into the night on one occasion and have pizza brought in to her.

The new Labour leader will be announced on April 4.