DOWNING Street announced a raft of new nominations to the House of Lords on Friday afternoon, which included former chief of staff to the Prime Minister Sue Gray.
Former shadow cabinet minister Thangam Debbonaire and Conservative Liz Truss’s deputy prime minister Dame Therese Coffey were also nominated alongside associate editor of The Spectator Toby Young.
Overall, 38 new appointments were announced, with six from the Tories and two from the Liberal Democrats, as well as the 30 from Labour.
Gray came to prominence in 2022 with the report into Downing Street parties, and then became Starmer's chief of staff in opposition before following him into Number 10.
The list was not without criticism, with Labour having pledged to completely abolish the Lords. One person quipped: "An odd way to go enact a pledge to abolish the House of Lords".
Starmer had previously pledged to abolish the House of Lords during his first term in power, but will instead only bring in small reforms such as the removal of hereditary peers.
Former Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard wrote on social media, "Abolish the House of Lords," while co-leader of the Scottish Greens Lorna Slater reacted with: "Scrap the House of Lords".
Former SNP MP John Nicolson said: "How's that Labour promise to abolish the House of Lords going? Well funny you should ask....
"Keir Starmer's peerage list - a string of allies, former MPs and trade union leaders."
Deputy leader of the Welsh Greens Phil Davies said: "38 new life peers selected based on cronyism and corruption from our two business as usual parties. Labour and Tories couldn’t give less of crap about making peoples lives better.
"Abolish the House of Lords!"
Former Labour spin doctor now podcast host Alastair Campbell (above) said the "never-ending cycle" of appointments from each party attempting to balance the House was "beyond a joke", no matter the "abilities (in some cases lack of) of the new peers".
The Lords has some 800 members, most of whom are life peers, and adding more Labour peers will boost the party’s representation in the chamber.
There are currently 187 Labour peers compared to 273 from the Conservative Party. The Liberal Democrats have 78 and there are 184 crossbenchers.
He added: "We are a 21st-century country with 19th-century politics inbuilt into the system. The only reason a progressive minded person should take a peerage is to do all they can to get rid of the Lords.
"We need a total overhaul of our constitution, and the way politics is done. Politics is not working and won’t work again until we admit that the systems we complacently take for granted are among the reasons so many people feel alienated from the whole bloody thing."
Llŷr Powell, a policy and public affairs adviser, cited Starmer's previous pledge, commenting: "Parliamentary cronyism, deceitfulness, gerrymandering, and hypocrisy rolled into one".
Another said in reference to former Labour MP and shadow cabinet minister Thangam Debbonaire who lost her seat in July said: "Never mind if the electorate decides to vote you out, because you’ll just be given a seat in the House of Lords five months later.
"Coming from the leader of a Labour Party who said he would end cronyism and abolish the House of Lords. This Labour Government are a disgrace."
