Peerage Creations Since by Richard Kelly
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BRIEFING PAPER Number 5867, 13 February 2020 Peerage creations since By Richard Kelly 1997 Inside: 1. Introduction 2. Peerage Creations by Prime Minister 3. Chronological List 4. Appointments Commission Peers www.parliament.uk/commons-library | intranet.parliament.uk/commons-library | [email protected] | @commonslibrary Number 5867, 13 February 2020 2 Contents Summary 3 1. Introduction 4 1.1 Peerage Creations 4 1.2 Lords Spiritual 4 1.3 Hereditary Peers 4 1.4 Law Lords 5 1.5 Appointments Commission Peers 5 1.6 Date of Announcement 6 1.7 Party Affiliation 6 1.8 Former MPs 6 2. Peerage Creations by Prime Minister 7 Tony Blair (May 1997–June 2007) 7 Gordon Brown (June 2007–May 2010) 7 David Cameron (May 2010–July 2016) 7 Theresa May (July 2016–July 2019) 8 Boris Johnson (July 2019–present*) 8 Total life peerage creations (May 1997-January 2020) 8 3. Chronological List 10 4. Appointments Commission Peers 37 Contributing Authors: Cover page image copyright: UK Parliament 3 Peerage creations since 1997 Summary This House of Commons Library briefing paper provides details of appointments to the House of Lords since May 1997. It provides tables showing the numbers appointed under the Prime Ministers Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson, broken down by party affiliation at the time of appointment. It also includes a chronological list of all those appointed during this period. The information is correct as at 31 January 2020. Between 1 May 1997 and 31 January 2020, 717 life peerages were created: Tony Blair (May 1997-June 2007) 374 Gordon Brown (June 2007-May 2010) 34 David Cameron (May 2010-July 2016) 245 Theresa May (July 2016-July 2019) 43 Boris Johnson (July 2019-present*) 21 Total (May 1997-present*) 717 * to 31 January 2020 In October 2017, the first Lord Speaker’s Committee, which had been appointed to consider the size of the House of Lords, recommended capping the size of the House of Lords at 600. Until this is reached, it recommended that only one new peer should be appointed for every two leaving. In February 2018, Theresa May wrote to the Lord Speaker and committed to act with restraint in appointing new members to the House of Lords. In October 2018, the Lord Speaker’s Committee reported on progress. It was encouraged by the reception for its original report and noted that the proposed number of departures in the first year had been exceeded. In June 2019, it reported again and welcomed the continued progress in reducing the size of the House. For peerages created in the period 1958-1997, see the Lords the Library Note, Peerage Creations 1958–2008, 24 July 2008. This briefing paper does not consider the composition of or departures from the House of Lords. Information on the membership of the House of Lords is available on the parliamentary website. Number 5867, 13 February 2020 4 1. Introduction This House of Commons Library briefing paper provides details of the 717 life peerage creations under the Prime Ministers Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson (up to 31 January 2020). The aim is to provide a succinct account of the rate of appointments to the House of Lords during this period, and of the numbers of each of the main political parties and crossbenchers appointed. It does not look at the composition of the House and the balance between the parties at any particular point in time; that is, it does not consider those Members who were already in the House before May 1997 and continued to sit thereafter, and does not take account of absences, retirements or deaths among peers appointed before or after May 1997.1 The tables in Part 2 of this briefing provide a summary of the numbers of appointments to the House of Lords under Prime Ministers since Tony Blair. New peerages created whilst David Cameron led the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition are distinguished from those he appointed when he led a Conservative Government. Part 3 of the briefing provides a chronological list of all peerage creations since Tony Blair became Prime Minister in May 1997. Part 4 lists those Peers nominated by the House of Lords Appointments Commission. 1.1 Peerage Creations The Sovereign, on the advice of the Prime Minister, formally confers all peerages. 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.2 1.2 Lords Spiritual Lords Spiritual are not included in the tables or list, since the Archbishops and Bishops do not remain members of the House of Lords for life, and their number remains constant at 26. Former Archbishops or Bishops who were granted life peerages on retirement, however, are featured in the tables and list. 1.3 Hereditary Peers The House of Lords Act 1999 removed the right of most hereditary Peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords. Under the terms of the 1999 1 More detailed analysis, and a listing, of peerage creations in the 50 years following the passage of the Life Peerages Act 1958 is provided in the Lords Library Note, Peerage Creations 1958–2008, 24 July 2008. Information on the membership of the House of Lords is available on the parliamentary website 2 Meg Russell and Tom Semlyen, Enough is Enough: Regulating Prime Ministerial Appointments to the House of Lords, Constitution Unit, UCL, February 2015, p9 5 Peerage creations since 1997 Act, 92 hereditary Peers were able to continue as Members of the House. Aside from two hereditary office holders, 90 were initially elected from all those hereditary Members who wished to continue to sit in the House, and those among the 90 who have died have been replaced in by-elections. The 92 hereditary Peers are not treated as new appointments to the House (they are not new peerages), and therefore do not feature in the tables or list in Parts 2 and 3 of this briefing.3 Several hereditary Peers have been granted a life peerage, however, enabling them to continue to sit in the House. These new peerages are included in the tables and list. Three new hereditary peerages have been created in the period covered by this briefing, all for members of the royal family: the Earl of Wessex, before the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999; the Duke of Cambridge, in 2011; and the Duke of Sussex, in 2018. These feature in the list but not the summary tables in Part 2. 1.4 Law Lords Until the creation of the Supreme Court, which began operating in October 2009, the House of Lords played a judicial role as the highest court in the land, as well as being part of the legislature. Judicial work was carried out through the Appellate Committee of the House by Lords of Appeal. Lords of Appeal in Ordinary appointed to the House as life Peers under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 are marked ‘Law’ in the list in Part 3 of this briefing, distinguishing them from hereditary Peers or the vast majority of life Peers appointed to the House under the Life Peerages Act 1958 (marked ‘Life’ in the list in Part 3). Not all Law Lords were appointed to the House under the 1876 Act; some were able to take part in judicial proceedings having held high judicial office, but they owed their membership of the House to a hereditary peerage or life peerage under the 1958 Act. It is therefore difficult to separate ‘judicial’ appointments to the House from ‘political’ appointments; the list in Part 3 includes all appointments to the House, but the tables in Part 2 exclude peerages created under the 1876 Act. Between May 1997 and October 2009, 13 Law Lords received peerages under the 1876 Act. 1.5 Appointments Commission Peers Following the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999, the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, announced the establishment of a non-statutory Appointments Commission to assist with the nomination of non-party- political Peers. Since the first group nominated by the Commission became Peers in 2001, 70 new appointments to the Crossbenches have been made in this way. Other appointments to the Crossbenches have continued to be made following recommendation by the Prime Minister, 3 The House of Lords Library Briefing, Hereditary By-elections: Results, provides a list of hereditary peers’ by-election results Number 5867, 13 February 2020 6 typically distinguished public servants on retirement from office,4 although these have been fewer than the number nominated via the Appointments Commission. Peers created by the Appointments Commission are included in the tables in Part 2 and the list in Part 3, and are listed separately in Part 4. 1.6 Date of Announcement In this briefing, the date of a new appointment refers to the date of the announcement of a new peerage, rather than the date of letters patent conferring the peerage or the date of the new peer’s 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.