Sadiq Khan among 26 new peers to enter the Lords

Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan is one of 26 new people given a seat in the House of Lords in one of Sir Keir Starmer’s final stints as prime minister.

Sir Sadiq has been nominated to become Labor Lord alongside 15 others, including broadcaster June Sarpong and former union president Christina McAnea.

The government also announced five members from the Liberal Democrats, three from the Conservatives and two from different benches, former cabinet secretary Sir Chris Wormald and retired senior judge Sir Brian Leveson.

Downing Street published nomination list, external and that the King was “graciously pleased to signify his intention of conferring nobility.”

The nominations come as Sir Keir prepares to leave office on Monday, when Andy Burnham will become the next prime minister.

Sir Sadiq’s candidacy was one of the most notable candidates on the list.

The former Labor MP is in the middle of his third term as mayor of London, having been first elected in 2016.

The BBC understands Sir Sadiq is not seeking a ministerial role in Andy Burnham’s new government and has not yet decided whether he will seek a fourth term as mayor in 2028.

A government source praised Sir Sadiq as “a brilliant mayor who has transformed London for the better” and said he “fully deserves” his nobility.

“He brought violent crime to record levels, cleaned up the capital’s air, delivered the Elizabeth Line and rebuilt council houses in London,” the source said.

A spokesman for the mayor said Sir Sadiq was “honored to be ennobled”.

“He is excited about what more can be done in the coming years and will dedicate his time and energy to defending our city and building a fairer, safer and greener London for everyone,” the mayor’s spokesman said.

The BBC was told this was a cross-party slate that was being worked out before Sir Keir announced his resignation as Labor leader last month.

This is a list of “political precedents” rather than resignation honors that prime ministers usually give when leaving office.

It comes after Sir Keir signaled he could hand out the honor of resigning when he leaves Downing Street, although he said he found it “very difficult to justify” giving such awards in 2023.

Reform UK was not given any rights in the list published on Thursday.

UK Reform Leader Nigel Farage said the appointments were a “single party decision”.

“Once again there is nothing for Reform and the upper house is even more unrepresentative,” Farage said.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said he was “delighted” that agricultural economist Julia Aglionby, former Barnsley councilor Hannah Kitching, economist Tim Leunig, campaign director Dave McCobb and offshore wind entrepreneur Mark Petterson would be joining his party’s ranks in the Lords.

“Each of them has the right skills, experience and values ​​to help us hold the Government to account, deliver the change people need and fix our broken policies, including reforming the House of Lords,” Sir Ed said.

Former army commander General Sir Patrick Sanders has joined the Conservatives, along with Carphone Warehouse co-founder David Ross and Swaran Singh, professor of social and community psychiatry at the University of Warwick.

Members of the House of Lords are usually appointed by the King on the advice of the Prime Minister.

Appointments to the Lords are formalized by the King once a candidate passes scrutiny.

Labor has said it plans to abolish the House of Lords in 2022 and replace it with a “new, reformed upper house”.

But that was watered down as Labor committed to making plans for an alternative second chamber and immediately scrapping the 92 seats for hereditary peers, as it did this year.

Burnham called for a complete overhaul of the unelected Lords.

“I don’t think we can justify not electing half our national assembly,” Burnham told The House magazine last month.

“I think this is a scandalous thing in many ways.”

The Electoral Reform Association campaign said Labor supporters would be stunned by the latest appointments to the Lords, given its plans to reform the parliament.

Darren Hughes, chief executive of the Electoral Reform Association, said: “The next prime minister needs to deliver on his promise of reform and transform the Lords into a smaller, democratic chamber that is better representative of and accountable to the people of this country.”