List of new peers sneaked out on eve of royal wedding
THERESA May and Jeremy Corbyn were under fire last night after releasing a controversial list of new peers on the eve of the royal wedding.
Downing Street published the list at 4.56pm, with the timing branded ‘deeply cynical’.
One Royal source said officials at Buckingham Palace were ‘spitting tacks’ at the decision to release the appointments – which have to be approved by the Queen – on the eve of her grandson’s wedding.
‘There’s no problem with the names as such, it’s about the timing,’ the source said. ‘There is a convention that says you don’t do politically controversial things on the eve of a royal event and this breaks it.’
Downing Street declined to comment, but it is understood that normal procedures were followed, with the Palace informed of the likely timing of the announcement.
Buckingham Palace also played down suggestions of a row. A spokesman said: ‘The only mood around here is one of absolute joy in anticipation of tomorrow’s wedding.’
The party leaders faced criticism over their choices. Among the nine Tories elevated by Mrs May were her friend Catherine Meyer and ex-Cabinet minister Peter Lilley, who was embroiled in a lobbying row earlier this year after being secretly filmed discussing potential payments for advising Chinese tycoons on how to make money out of Brexit.
Mr Corbyn, who once pledged he would never appoint any peers, also ennobled two friends – veteran Left-wing activists Martha Osamor and Pauline Bryan – and Labour’s former general secretary Iain McNicol.
Miss Osamor, mother of shadow international development secretary Kate Osamor, recently signed a letter protesting at the suspensions of party members for alleged antiSemitism. Gideon Falter, chairman of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, accused Mr Corbyn of sending a ‘two-fingered salute’ to the Jewish community, although Miss Osamor said yesterday she was ‘implacably opposed to anti-Semitism’.
Former DUP MP William McCrea was also made a peer.
Darren Hughes, chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society, which is campaigning for reform of the Lords, described the appointments as ‘an insult to voters’.
‘This has now gone beyond a joke,’ he said. ‘Time and time again the government talk about reducing the cost of politics. Yet at the same time they’re packing the upper house with former MPs and retired party hacks.’
‘It’s now gone beyond a joke’