Tory Zac Goldsmith has today officially been given a peerage and a government job despite losing his seat in the general election .
Boris Johnson was set to spark a furious "rewards for failure" row after keeping his successor as London mayor candidate as an Environment Minister - despite the fact he was trounced by the Lib Dems last week.
And it comes despite Mr Johnson - whose girlfriend Carrie Symonds is a close friend of multi-millionaire Mr Goldsmith - repeatedly claiming his new top team is a "People's Government".
A No10 spokesman confirmed tonight: "The Queen has been pleased to signify Her intention of conferring a peerage of the United Kingdom for Life on Zac Goldsmith."
Goldsmith lost his seat to the Lib Dems by 7,766 votes on Friday.
Lib Dem MP Sarah Olney - who booted Zac Goldsmith out of Richmond Park - told the Mirror earlier this week that a peerage would see "Boris Johnson making a mockery of his so called 'People's government'."
She added: "Already Boris Johnson is rewarding his cronies with peerages and threatening to make a no deal, which will damage our communities and public services, far more likely."
Mr Goldsmith's ministerial role - which is unpaid - will make him a Minister of State at both the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for International Development.
The peerage was an open secret in Westminster but took several days for the Lords appointments body to sign off.
The Electoral Reform Society previously blasted reports that Mr Goldsmith could be handed a peerage to keep a government job.
Chief executive Darren Hughes said: "Politicians shouldn’t be rewarded with votes on our laws for life, after losing their seat.
"This issue we’ve seen across parties for years, and makes an absolute joke of democratic accountability. Our second chamber should not be some absurd insurance policy for trounced MPs."
Labour shadow minister Jon Trickett said: “It says everything you need to know about Boris Johnson’s respect for democracy that he has ignored the voters of Richmond Park and appointed Goldsmith to government.
“The public deserve better than a government appointed by ‘jobs for mates’.
“At a time when the Conservatives are investigating racism in their party, they’ve appointed the person who ran an overtly racist campaign against Sadiq Khan. Zac Goldsmith is not fit to hold any government position.”
