Johnson slammed for stuffing Lords with his cronies
BORIS Johnson’s plans to flood the House of Lords with dozens of cronies could “undermine public confidence in our parliamentary system”, the Lord Speaker has warned.
Lord McFall of Alcluith urged Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss to show more restraint in appointing new peers, comparing Theresa May’s 43 appointments with 86 under Johnson.
The PM is drawing up his resignation honours list, which is expected to include members of his “advisory committee” of donors said to be granted access to ministers in return for giving more than £250,000 to the party.
Conservative chairman Ben Elliot, whose firm has been accused of selling access to Prince Charles and boasting of ties to “Russian elites”, is being lined up for a gong.
Former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries and Sir Nicholas Soames – the former Tory MP and grandson of Winston Churchill – are understood to have been put on the list. But the House of Lords Appointment Commission, which vets peerage nominations, is holding up Johnson’s plans, according to The Sunday Times. Lord McFall is trying to promote plans to grant statutory powers to the body in future. In a letter to the Tory leadership hopefuls, he praised the “restraint” shown by Theresa May and criticised Johnson. He said: “Despite the high number of retirements, there has been little progress in reducing the size of the House, which has over 800 members. “A Lords that is too big, combined with the fact that some recently appointed members have not been especially active, undermines public confidence in our parliamentary system.” A Government spokesman said: “Given retirements and departures, new members of the Lords continue to be needed.”