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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
National
Xander Elliards

Alister Jack given knighthood – but no peerage – in dissolution honours list

ALISTER Jack is to receive a knighthood in Rishi Sunak’s dissolution honours list for "political and public service", while Theresa May is made a life peer.

The Scottish Secretary had been expected to be given a seat in the House of Lords, but faced calls for that to be blocked after news broke that he had won money from gambling on the timing of the General Election.

Sunak’s chief of staff Liam Booth-Smith has been given a peerage, alongside former prime minister May, and Graham Brady, the chair of the Tories’ backbench 1922 committee.

Dr Hilary Cass, the author of the controversial review on trans healthcare in the UK, is also set to be made a crossbench peer.

The dissolution honours were published on the UK Government website less than an hour before General Election polls closed on Thursday.

For life peerages in the Lords, Tory leader Sunak nominated:

  • Graham Brady, the former MP for Altrincham and Sale West, and chairman of the 1922 Committee.
  • Chris Grayling, the former MP for Epsom and Ewell, and former transport secretary.
  • Eleanor Laing, the former deputy speaker of the House of Commons.
  • Craig Mackinley, the former MP for South Thanet.
  • Theresa May, the former prime minister.
  • Alok Sharma, former business secretary and president for COP26.
  • Liam Booth-Smith, Sunak’s Downing Street chief of staff.

Labour leader Keir Starmer nominated: 

  • Margaret Beckett, the former foreign secretary.
  • John Cryer, the former MP for Leyton and Wanstead.
  • Harriet Harman, the former Labour minister and MP for Camberwell and Peckham.
  • Margaret Hodge, the former culture minister.
  • Kevan Jones, the former minister for veterans.
  • Barbara Keeley, the former MP for Worsley and Eccles South.
  • John Spellar, the former MP for Warley.
  • Rosie Winterton, the former MP for Doncaster Central

The LibDems nominated Caroline Pidgeon, the former leader of the party in the London Assembly, while the Ulster Unionist Party nominated their former leader, MLA Thomas Elliott.

As well as Cass, former National Farmers’ Union president Minette Batters was also nominated for a crossbench peerage.

The UK Government said that everyone nominated for a peerage had gone through vetting checks, and the chair of the House of Lords Appointments Commission has confirmed to the Prime Minister that all individuals are supported.

Elsewhere, former defence secretary Ben Wallace, former Northern Ireland secretary Julian Smith and deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden are all made Knight Commanders of the Order of the Bath.

Therese Coffey, who briefly served as deputy prime minister under Liz Truss, has been handed a Damehood of the Order of the British Empire.

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