Library Briefing Life Peerages Created Since 1958 Table of Contents 1. Overview Summary 2. Statistics 3. Appointments As at 1 October 2018, there had been sixteen new life Peers announced this Commission Peers year; thirteen political appointments were announced by the Prime Minister, Theresa May, on 18 May 2018, and subsequently three crossbenchers were 4. List of Life Peers announced in June 2018 following recommendation by the House of Lords Created Under the 1958 Appointments Commission. Of these, all but one (Martha Osamor), had Act received their writ and joined the House at the time of writing. Including Martha Osamor in the number, a total of 1,435 life Peers have been created thus far under the Life Peerages Act 1958. This figure is made up of 300 women (21 percent) and 472 who were former MPs (33 percent). The Life Peerages Act 1958 enabled life Peers to be created with the right to sit in the House of Lords, including female life Peers (marking the first occasion women could sit in the House of Lords). The power was conferred on the Sovereign, who could create Peers through letters patent on advice of the Prime Minister (although this relationship is not set out in the Act). To mark the 60th anniversary of the 1958 Act, this Briefing provides information on all life Peers appointed under the Act. It contains brief statistics, discusses those appointed by the House of Lords Appointments Commission and lists all the life Peers appointed under the Act. This Briefing does not include information on the Lords Spiritual, hereditary Peers or Peers appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 (which related to the appointment of ‘Law Lords’ to the House). Further recent Library Briefings relating to the Life Peerages Act 1958, include: • Life Peerages Act 1958: First Life Peers, 28 March 2018 • Life Peerages Act 1958: 60th Anniversary, 28 March 2018 Russell Taylor 10 October 2018 ____________________________________________________________________________ A full list of Lords Library briefings is available on the research briefings page on the internet. The Library publishes briefings for all major items of business debated in the House of Lords. The Library also publishes briefings on the House of Lords itself and other subjects that may be of interest to Members. House of Lords Library briefings are compiled for the benefit of Members of the House of Lords and their personal staff, to provide impartial, authoritative, politically balanced briefing on subjects likely to be of interest to Members of the Lords. Authors are available to discuss the contents of the briefings with the Members and their staff but cannot advise members of the general public. Any comments on Library briefings should be sent to the Head of Research Services, House of Lords Library, London SW1A 0PW or emailed to [email protected]. House of Lords Library Briefing I Life Peers Since 1958 1 1. Overview The Life Peerages Act 1958 enabled life Peers to be created with the right to sit in the House of Lords.1 This included female life Peers, and marked the first occasion women could sit in the House of Lords.2 The power was conferred on the Sovereign, who could create Peers through letters patent on advice of the Prime Minister (although this relationship is not set out in the Act). There is no statutory limit on the number of new peerages. It is the Prime Minister who decides what number is appropriate. By convention, when recommending peerages for members of political parties other than their own, prime ministers take advice from the leader of that party. In addition, the House of Lords Appointments Commission makes recommendations for non-party political peers and vets party nominations for propriety. This Briefing provides information on life Peers created under the 1958 Act.3 It contains brief statistics, discusses those appointed by the House of Lords Appointments Commission and lists all the life Peers created under the Act. This Briefing does not include information on the Lords Spiritual, hereditary Peers or Peers appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 (which related to the appointment of ‘Law Lords’ to the House); information on these can be found in the following Library Briefings: • House of Lords: Lords Spiritual, 4 September 2017 • Hereditary Peers in the House of Lords Since 1999, 27 March 2014 • Appellate Jurisdiction of the House of Lords, 20 November 2009 Please note: the date of a new appointment referred to in this Briefing is the date of the announcement of a new peerage, rather than the date of letters patent conferring the peerage or the date of introduction to the House of Lords. This makes it easier to compare the rate of new appointments to the Lords over time, as there can sometimes be a gap of weeks or months between the announcement of an intention to create a new peerage and the date on which a new Member is introduced in the Lords. While this method does ensure consistency, it does not follow that all appointments announced during a particular Prime Minister’s term of 1 House of Lords Library, Life Peerages Act 1958: 60th Anniversary, 28 March 2018. 2 House of Lords Library, Women in the House of Lords, 30 June 2015. 3 There have been three cases since 1958 where persons included in honours lists were not subsequently created peers. John Emerson Harding Davies, whose peerage was announced in the Queen’s Birthday List on 26 June 1979, died on 4 July 1979 before his letters patent were issued. Dame Shelagh Roberts, who was included in the New Year’s Honours List on 31 December 1991, also died before any title was gazetted. In addition, Sir Ian MacDonald Horobin, whose peerage was announced in the multiple list on 29 March 1962, subsequently withdrew his acceptance. These three individuals are not included in the analyses and lists below. 2 House of Lords Library Briefing I Life Peers Since 1958 office were recommended by that Prime Minister: John Major’s resignation honours list, for example, was issued in August 1997, some three months into Tony Blair’s premiership. It is worth noting that whilst John Major, Gordon Brown and David Cameron issued resignation honours lists, Tony Blair did not. 2. Statistics As of 1 October 2018, 1,435 life Peers have been created under the 1958 Act, made up of 1,135 men and 300 women.4 In addition, 471 of the life Peers were formerly MPs. In terms of affiliation at the time of creation, over this period: • 439 life Peers were affiliated to the Conservative Party at the time of creation; • 496 were affiliated to Labour; • 146 were affiliated to Liberal Democrats (or the Liberals or Social Democratic Party); • 354 were Crossbenchers or non-affiliated or affiliated to other political groups. The following table shows life Peer creations broken down by the Prime Minister in office at the time of the creation: XB/ Total (of which Dates Con Lab Lib/SDP Other women) January 1957 – Harold Macmillan 13 20 14 47 (7) October 1963 Sir Alec Douglas- October 1963 – 4 9 3 16 (2) Home October 1964 October 1964 – Harold Wilson 14 62 6 53 135 (14) June 1970 June 1970 – Edward Heath 8 9 2 26 45 (8) March 1974 March 1974 – Harold Wilson 22 39 5 14 80 (11) April 1976 April 1976 – James Callaghan 5 29 1 23 58 (5) May 1979 Margaret May 1979 – 96 56 10 39 201 (27) Thatcher November 1990 May 1990 – John Major 76 40 15 29 160 (29) May 1997 4 This number includes Martha Osamor, whose life peerage was announced on 18 May 2018, but has yet to join the House. House of Lords Library Briefing I Life Peers Since 1958 3 XB/ Total (of which Dates Con Lab Lib/SDP Other women) May 1997 – Tony Blair 62 162 54 96 374 (88) June 2007 June 2007 – Gordon Brown 4 11 2 17 34 (10) May 2010 May 2010 – David Cameron 110 55 51 29 245 (83) July 2016 Theresa May5 July 2016 – 256 4 0 11 40 (15) Total 439 496 146 354 1435 (300) In addition, the following table shows the number of appointments by each Prime Minister taken as a yearly average. However, please note that this is calculated by taking their total number of appointments and dividing it by whole years served (ie it would ignore part years served). Therefore, the figures should only be considered indicative. Full Years Average Prime Minister Served Appointments a Year Harold Macmillan 6 8 Sir Alec Douglas-Home 1 16 Harold Wilson 77 31 Edward Heath 3 15 James Callaghan 3 19 Margaret Thatcher 11 18 John Major 7 23 Tony Blair 10 37 Gordon Brown 2 17 David Cameron 6 41 Theresa May8 2 (ongoing) 20 5 These appointments include Martha Osamor, who has yet to join the House. 6 It should be noted that Andrew Tyrie is included in this number as he was originally announced among the Conservative Party’s nominations for new Members (Prime Minister’s Office, ‘Queen Confers Peerages’, 18 May 2018). However, it was subsequently announced that he would sit as a non-affiliated Member (HL Hansard, 22 May 2018, col 982). 7 Over two terms. 8 These appointments include Martha Osamor, who has yet to join the House. 4 House of Lords Library Briefing I Life Peers Since 1958 3. Appointments Commission Peers Following the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999, the Prime Minister announced the establishment of a non-statutory Appointments Commission to assist with the nomination of non-party-political Peers.9 Since the first group nominated by the Commission became Peers in 2001, 67 new appointments to the Crossbenches have been made in this way.