‘A piece of cheek and impossible to justify’
Lib Dem grandee on outgoing PMs’ resignation honours lists
Party donors, political aides and loyal supporters should not be rewarded with seats in the House of Lords, according to Sir Menzies Campbell.
The former Liberal Democrat leader spoke out after sources suggested Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list includes multi-millionaire Tory donors, Conservative MPs and former personal aides and advisers.
Meanwhile, his successor as Tory leader and Prime Minister, Liz Truss, has refused to deny she will also nominate resignation honours despite only lasting 44 days in Downing Street. That, according to Campbell would be a “piece of cheek” and impossible to justify.
Johnson created 86 peers during his time as PM, and another 20 are said to be included in his resignation honours list.
Names include Scottish Secretary Alister Jack, former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, outgoing Cop26 president Alok Sharma and ex-minister of state Nigel Adams.
Tory donors Stuart Marks, an entrepreneur and investor, and Carphone Warehouse co-founder David Ross are also said to be on the list with the new peerages, knighthoods, damehoods, expected to cost taxpayers around £600,000 a year in costs and allowances.
St Andrews University chancellor Campbell said: “For too many people, a seat in the House of Lords is a reward for a substantial financial donation.
“The prime objective of the House of Lords should not be to give people honours by way of reward. If you really want to give them an honour, there is plenty of other things you can give them. What you shouldn’t do is put them into a chamber whose purpose to debate, hold the government to account and, now more than ever, to improve the poorly drafted and poorly argued legislation that comes from the House of Commons.”
Despite peers being able to claim £323 a day in attendance allowance, some socalled “silent peers” barely contribute to debates or vote.
Campbell said: “The government side of the House of Lords is frequently frustrated because substantial numbers of people are given the honour of membership of the House of Lords but when it comes to a crisis vote they have difficulty in persuading them to come in and vote. It’s one of the reasons the government is defeated on so many occasions.”
Boris Johnson’s list is also expected to include ex-Downing Street special adviser Charlotte Owen, 29, who had worked as a parliamentary assistant to Johnson, which will make her the youngest ever life peer. Ross Kempsell, 30, a former Conservative campaign HQ political director, is also said to be in line for a peerage.
Campbell said: “This is a chamber for legislation and unless people have the experience and willingness to accept the obligation of legislator then there should be no place for them in the Lords.”
Liz Truss is also expected to draw up a list after her short-lived premiership. Campbell said: “It would be a piece of cheek for her to have an honours list given that the ink on her acceptance of the responsibility of the prime minister is barely dry. Such a list would be impossible to justify.”
He described the size of the House of Lords, which has almost 800 members in the world’s second largest legislative body after China’s People’s Congress, as “ridiculous”. The Lib Dems want the Lords replaced by a senate of 100 members, 80% of whom would be elected by proportional representation. A plan for constitutional reform delivered to Labour by former PM Gordon Brown also details replacement with a senate of the nations and regions.
Campbell said: “The convention is that the House of Lords holds the government to account and is a chamber for the revisal of legislation. But if it had a substantial elected element, then it would be looking for increasing powers.
“One reason so many in the Commons resist the idea of a revised Lords is that they don’t want it to interfere with what they regard as their exclusive powers.”