PM has new peers blackballed
Concern that many of the candidates recommended for the Lords are unsuitable
AN UNPRECEDENTED number of peerages have been blocked after the candidates failed a strict vetting process amid concerns that many of those recommended for a seat in the House of Lords are not suitable, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.
On the day that the Government is expected to announce more than 40 new appointments to the Lords, it can be reported that seven nominees were turned down by Whitehall’s appointments commission.
There are also understood to be concerns about many more on the list, but they cannot be blocked from the upper chamber.
The committee that approves potential nominees can only block people where there is concern about their financial propriety or on the basis of other strict criteria such as whether their ennoblement is linked to a political donation.
The committee is not allowed to consider the “suitability” of those put forward by political parties – and today’s list is expected to contain a large number of political “cronies” who have only ever worked as government advisers.
In contrast, those put forward for cross-bench peerages – typical- ly experts in their fields – face a far more stringent test to ensure that they are public figures with experience that can add to the quality of the upper house.
The number of rejected nominations is unprecedented.
In the past 15 years only 10 peerages have been blocked, yet today’s list has faced even more opposition than the cash-for-honours list in 2005 that led to a police investigation.
David Laws, the former Liberal Democrat minister who was forced to resign in 2010 after an expenses scandal, was one of those rejected by the appointments commission. The details of the other “blocked” peers will remain a secret under Whitehall rules.
More than half of the vetoed nominations were for former MPs, it is believed. The remainder are Conservative donors.
The Prime Minister is expected to announce between 20 and 30
new Conservative peers. Around 10 Labour figures will be sent to the house alongside 11 Lib Dems.
Opposition peers have a majority in the Lords and Mr Cameron is facing the prospect of key pieces of legislation, including those in his manifesto, being blocked. Constitutional convention is supposed to stop the Lords blocking such measures, but this is being overridden by Labour peers.
The Conservatives are therefore attempting to pack the Lords with reliable supporters. Mr Cameron’s list will include several political advisers, including Kate Fall, his deputy chief of staff, James O’Shaughnessy, a former head of policy at No10, and Simone Finn, who was Francis Maude’s special adviser when he served in the Cabinet.
William Hague, the former foreign secretary, and Sir George Young, the former Tory chief whip, have also both been tipped for peerages.
A senior Conservative source said: “Many businessmen who previously would have gone to the Lords understandably cannot be relied upon to turn up day and night to vote. Therefore, more political aides have to be ennobled to ensure our manifesto commitments can be met.”
The can also disclose that the senior Lib Dem who was criticised over the Lord Rennard scandal will be given a peerage alongside at least seven other former MPs from the party and one former MEP.
Jonny Oates, who was Nick Clegg’s chief of staff from 2010 to 2015, was criticised after it emerged that he was asked a series of questions about the conduct of Lord Rennard in 2010 – several years before claims of sexual im- propriety were levelled against him by a number of women in the party.
The appointment of several political advisers to peerages will intensify calls for reform of the Lords.
Today’s list will boost the membership of the house to more than 820. The second chamber is now the second biggest legislature in the world after the Chinese politburo, and has overtaken the European Parliament in size.
Experts have said that the number of peers could rise to more than 1,000 if the size of the chamber continues at the same pace of growth. Baroness Smith of Basildon, Labour’s leader in the Lords, said: “The role of the House of Lords is to scrutinise legislation and hold governments of all shades to account. Those nominated for a peerage must reflect the integrity of that work.”
Sir Alistair Graham, former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said: “It does show a question mark about the judgment of Downing Street that they have put people up that the House of Lords appointments commission is not prepared to accept.
“It [peerages for party donors] is a form of purchasing honours. It is totally against the principle of the House of Lords, it’s supposed to be the second legislative chamber for revising and improving legislation. I think it devalues the political system because it was never designed for this.”
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb, the Green Party peer, said: “The House of Lords is already a virtually unaccountable chamber. They are making it even more despotic by putting people in there who have no real commitment to democracy.”
A Downing Street spokesman said: “There is a robust and thorough vetting process – however, it is confidential.”
A spokesman for the House of Lords Appointments Commission: “The commission does not comment on vetting.”
‘I think it devalues the political system because the House of Lords was never designed for this’