Almost a quarter of peerages awarded in 2020 have gone to Conservative party donors, close associates, or former colleagues of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, according to an analysis by the Guardian. The findings have reignited concerns about cronyism in the House of Lords.
Among the 13 out of 54 individuals ennobled this year are three donors, four former Telegraph colleagues, and four who worked with Johnson at City Hall during his tenure as Mayor of London. Notable appointees include Tory donor Peter Cruddas, whose peerage was announced by Johnson despite advice from the House of Lords, along with the prime minister’s brother Jo Johnson and friend Evgeny Lebedev.
The Electoral Reform Society (ERS), which advocates for an elected second chamber, criticised the appointments. Senior director Willie Sullivan said: “The Lords was already packed to the brim with donors and party loyalists, but this past year has seen a bad situation get even worse. It would be tempting to call cronyism in the Lords an abuse of the system, but the system itself is fundamentally broken.”
This year’s peerages have pushed the total size of the Lords to over 830, despite a cross-party agreement in 2017 to reduce numbers to 600. The list of new peers includes former deputy mayors Sir Edward Lister and Stephen Greenhalgh, as well as ex-MP James Wharton, who managed Johnson’s leadership campaign.
