Disgraced MPs who cheated on their expenses, a multimillionaire Tory donor, a group of back-room political fixers and an alcohol industry lobbyist have been ennobled by David Cameron, sparking renewed calls for root-and-branch reform of the House of Lords.
The 26 new Tory peers, along with 11 new Liberal Democrats and eight new Labour Lords, will take the membership of the Upper House to more than 800 – making it the second-largest legislative assembly in the world after the National People’s Congress of China.
The new members will cost the taxpayer up to £13,500 a day in expenses when the Lords is sitting. Of the 45 new peers, over 90 per cent were previously MPs, MEPs, councillors, former political staff or party figures.
Among the largest group are ex-MPs – 24 in total – almost half of whom had to repay, between them, some £55,000 in overpaid or unjustified expenses. They include Douglas Hogg who indirectly billed the taxpayer for the cost of cleaning his moat and tuning his piano at his country house.
Tory Grandee Douglas Hogg
Mr Hogg, who eventually agreed to pay back £20,000 in overclaimed expenses, had previously been nominated for a peerage by David Cameron in 2011 but was blocked by the House of Lords Appointments Commission.
This time round the Commission let him in but blocked five other peers nominated by the Conservatives, one Liberal Democrat and one from the Democratic Unionist Party.
Mr Cameron was also accused of hypocrisy after it emerged that he told the Commission in 2012 to appoint no more than two independent crossbench peers a year – while nominating hundreds of political appointees to the chamber himself. In the past five years Mr Cameron has appointed 236 new peers, of which only eight have been non-political Commission appointments.
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This, experts said, would fundamentally alter the nature of the House of Lords over time – reducing its independent expertise and making it increasingly subservient to the Government.
“Independent peers are one of the very few things that the public likes about the House of Lords but David Cameron appears intent on reducing their influence,” said Professor Meg Russell, deputy director of the Constitution Unit at University College London.
“We need an immediate cap on the size of the chamber, a brake on prime ministerial appointments, and a move to a far more regulated system.
“The Lords is in danger of serious crisis, and I believe bodies such as the Lords Constitution Committee, or perhaps even the Lord Speaker, now need to step in and help forge agreement for urgent change. The current system is costly to the taxpayer, damaging to Parliament, and badly needs to stop.”
Labour’s leader in the Lords, Baroness Smith, said: “David Cameron has appointed peers at a faster rate than any other prime minister since 1958, for the most part to the government side of the House and with fewer on the crossbenches.”
David Cameron has appointed 26 new Tory peers (PA)
She added: “Appointing new peers purely on the basis of them becoming voting fodder completely misses the point of the Lords’ constitutional role.”
Among the new Tory peers is James Lupton, a businessman who has given the Tories nearly £3m and is facing questions over allegations that he used his influence with ministers to persuade them to support the troubled charity Kids Company against the advice of civil servants.
Mr Lupton has admitted lobbying the Department of Education on behalf of the charity in the run-up to a £3m grant being awarded to it.
There is also an honour for Stuart Polak who has turned the Conservative Friends of Israel into a formidable fundraising machine for the Tories – with donations of millions of pounds from Britain’s Jewish community.
Mr Cameron has also chosen to honour a number of back-room political staff – by appointing some of them peers while giving others lesser honours for “public service”.
Two former Tory Downing Street aides Kate Fall and James O’Shaughnessy will go into the Lords along with Simone Finn, an adviser to the trade minister Francis Maude, and Philippa Stroud an adviser to Iain Duncan Smith.
Another new peer is Kevin Shinkwin – described by the Government as a “voluntary sector professional”. But for the last two years Mr Shinkwin has been working as a lobbyist for the Wine and Spirits Trade Association. Its website describes him as “a seasoned campaigner with a record of securing tangible outcomes”.
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There are OBEs for Mr Cameron’s former speechwriter Clare Foges, his public appearance manager Liz Sugg and his constituency manager Caroline Balcon. Nick Clegg’s constituency manager is only appointed MBE.
Some in the Conservative Party suggested that Mr Cameron could be deliberately “stacking” the Lords with “cronies” in an attempt to make the chamber “unsustainable”. One senior government aide suggested that Mr Cameron and George Osborne would like to see the Lords reformed but with such a small majority don’t believe they can achieve it themselves.
They argue that the only way to make change happen is to make the second chamber so unacceptable that the Lords decides to reform itself. A Downing Street spokesman said that Mr Cameron wanted the House of Lords to address reform.
Alexandra Runswick, director of Unlock Democracy, said she was deeply disappointed by the list. “The latest appointments to the House of Lords feature the usual suspects – party donors, lobbyists, and unelected advisers,” she said.
Michelle Mone was among the new appointees (Getty)
“Even the Government knows that appointing more cronies is an undemocratic outrage. That’s why the announcement of new peers has been repeatedly delayed. It’s time to stop filling the Lords and start fixing it.”
Nick Maxwell, head of research at Transparency International, said that since 2001, 30 big-donor peers had donated a combined worth of over £48m to political parties. “Without reform, there will continue to be public suspicion that some people can effectively buy their way into Parliament”.
Katie Ghose, chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society, said the new peers would cost the taxpayer at least an extra £1.2m a year.
“At a time when the Government is talking about reducing the cost of politics, this announcement is an expensive insult to the public,” she said. “Today’s further expansion of the Lords – part of the constant arms race to pack the chamber with loyalists, whichever party is in power – shows the system is well and truly bust. The rapid growth in size and cost of our upper chamber is a national scandal, and the sooner we sort out this mess the better.”
Tory nominations
James Arbuthnot
Former MP for North East Hampshire and front bench minister
Greg Barker
Former MP for Bexhill and Battle and former Minister of State at the Department for Energy and Climate Change
Kate Fall
Earns about £100,000 as PM’s deputy chief of staff
Simone Finn
Special adviser to the Minister of State for Trade
Stephen Gilbert
Deputy chairman of the Conservative Party
William Hague
Former MP for Richmond and former Foreign Secretary
Robert Hayward OBE
Former MP for Kingswood, board member of Dignity in Dying and a trustee of the YMCA
Douglas Hogg QC
Former MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham and held several ministerial roles. Indirectly billed taxpayers for cleaning the moat at his country house and tuning his piano. Had to repay £20,639
Andrew Lansley CBE
Former MP for South Cambridgeshire and former cabinet minister. Claimed for having thatched Tudor cottage painted and driveway re-shingled before selling for £433,000. Repaid £4,733.
James Lupton CBE
Chairman of Greenhill Europe and former co-treasurer of the Conservative Party
Ruby McGregor Smith CBE
CEO of Mitie Group PLC
Anne McIntosh
Former MP for Thirsk and Malton and chairman of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee
Michelle Mone OBE
Entrepreneur on the board of directors for The Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust
James O’Shaughnessy
Managing director of Floreat Education
Emma Pidding CBE
Former Chiltern District Councillor and former chairman of the National Conservative Convention
Stuart Polak CBE
director of the Conservative Friends of Israel
Gary Porter
Councillor for South Holland District Council and chairman of the Local Government Association
Liz Redfern
Leader of North Lincolnshire Council
Andrew Robathan
Former MP for South Leicestershire and several front bench and government roles
Kate Rock
Vice-chairman of the Conservative Party
Jane Scott OBE
Leader of Wiltshire Council
Kevin Shinkwin
Long-standing voluntary sector professional; lobbyist for Wine and Spirits trade association
Philip Smith CBE
Chief executive of Association of Conservative Clubs
Philippa Stroud
Special adviser to the Work and Pensions Secretary
David Willetts
Former MP for Havant and several front bench roles
Sir George Young Bt CH
Former MP for North West Hampshire and former cabinet minister
Lib Dem nominations
Sir Alan Beith
Former MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed and former chair of the Justice Select Committee
Sharon Bowles
Former MEP for South East England
Sir Malcolm Bruce
Former MP for Gordon, and former Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats
Lorley Burt
Former MP for Solihull and former chair of the Liberal Democrats
Sir Menzies ‘Ming’ Campbell CH, CBE, QC
Former MP for North East Fife and former Leader of the Liberal Democrats
Lynne Featherstone
Former MP for Hornsey and Wood Green and held several Ministerial positions
Don Foster
Former MP for Bath and former Liberal Democrat Chief Whip
Jonny Oates
Former Chief of Staff to the Deputy Prime Minister in the Coalition Government
Shas Sheehan
Former Councillor for Kew and involved in several community groups
Sir Andrew Stunell
Former MP for Hazel Grove and former DCLG Minister
Dorothy Thornhill MBE
Mayor of Watford; former councillor and assistant headteacher
Labour nominations
David Blunkett
Former MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough and former cabinet minister
Alistair Darling
Former MP for Edinburgh South West and former cabinet minister
Peter Hain
Former MP for Neath and former cabinet minister
Rt Hon Tessa Jowell DBE
Former MP for Dulwich and West Norwood and former cabinet minister
Spencer Livermore
Senior Campaign Strategist for the Labour Party
Paul Murphy
Former MP for Torfaen and former cabinet minister
Rt Hon Dawn Primarolo DBE
Former MP for Bristol South and former minister
Dave Watts
Former MP for St Helens North and former chair of Parliamentary Labour
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