LABOUR’S Alistair Darling and David Blunkett, the Liberal Democrats’ Sir Menzies Campbell and Sir Malcolm Bruce and the Conservatives’ William Hague and Sir George Young are all tipped to become members of the House of Lords when David Cameron unveils his latest list of peerages this week.
Yet it has been the elevation of Scottish entrepreneur Michelle Mone, former Labour supporter turned champion of the Tory Government and the Union, who has caught most headlines recently thanks to her controversial appointment as the Prime Minister’s business start-up czar.
Critics of the appointment have even approached Lord Feldman, the Conservative Party Chairman, to urge him to have a private word with Mr Cameron to see if he can “unappoint” the lingerie tycoon.
The size of the Upper Chamber, second only to China’s National People’s Congress, is about to expand by up to another 50 ermine-clad notables, raising the total to around 830; substantially more than their elected brethren in the House of Commons, where there are 650 MPs.
If Mr Cameron continues his rapid rate of Lords appointments, then by the next General Election the unelected chamber could number almost 1000.
The announcement of the Dissolution Honours List, which traditionally follows the end of a Westminster Parliament, had been expected earlier in the summer but the headline-grabbing scandal of Scottish peer Lord Sewel, 69, caught – allegedly – taking cocaine with prostitutes in London was thought to have delayed matters.
Amid the revelations, the former Deputy Lords Speaker claimed many members of the Upper Chamber received their £300-a-day attendance allowances for doing “f*** all”.
More controversy is bound to follow the publication of Mr Cameron’s new list of barons and baronesses; No 10 indicated it will be later this week. The new peers are expected to include a number of Tory donors such as James Lupton, an investment banker who is also the Conservative Party’s co-treasurer, as well as James O’Shaughnessy, who ran the PM’s policy unit in No 10 and Kate Fall, the PM’s deputy chief of staff.
On the Labour side, Spencer Livermore, Ed Miliband’s campaigns chief, has been tipped for ennoblement.
It has also been reported that former Lib Dem Coalition Ministers Vince Cable and Danny Alexander will get knighthoods in the honours list; neither has commented.
Red bench numbers.
*Up to February, Mr Cameron’s rate of Lords appointments - 40 per year – exceeded that of any premier since 1958 Life Peerages Act. If he continues at this rate, by time of 2020 General Election there will be almost 1000 peers.
*Current number is 781 – compared to 650 MPs – with Conservatives on 226, Labour 212, Crossbenchers 179, Liberal Democrats 101, bishops 26 and SNP nil. The Nationalists believe the unelected Lords anachronistic.
*Members do not get a salary but can receive £300 daily attendance allowance.
*Total cost in 2013/14 was £93.1m. Estimated cost of another 40 peers is additional £1.3m a year.
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