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+44 (0)20 3033 3870 [email protected] Information Services Ltd 2018 0 www.dehavilland.co.uk

INTRODUCTION & ANALYSIS ...... 2

CONSERVATIVES ...... 4 Diana Barran MBE ...... 4 The Rt. Hon. Sir QC ...... 5 The Rt. Hon. Sir Alan Haselhurst...... 7 The Rt. Hon. ...... 8 Catherine Meyer CBE ...... 10 The Rt. Hon. Sir ...... 11 The Rt. Hon. Sir John Randall ...... 13 Amanda Sater ...... 15 The Rt. Hon. ...... 16

LABOUR PARTY ...... 18 Martha Osamor...... 18 Pauline Bryan ...... 19 Iain McNicol ...... 20

DEMOCRATIC UNIONIST PARTY (DUP) ...... 21 Dr. William McCrea ...... 21

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This is the first Parliament in which a Conservative Government has not held a majority in either of the Houses of Parliament. In the Commons, Prime Minister ’s Government survives through a confidence and supply relationship with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), but that agreement cannot work in the Lords.

As of May 2018, there were 244 Conservative peers on the red benches, compared to a total of 285 for Labour and the Liberal Democrats. When you add 181 Crossbenchers, plus Bishops and other assorted peers into the equation, it is clear why the Lords defeated the Government 15 times on the EU Withdrawal Bill.

Constitutionally, there is nothing to stop the Government from flooding the Upper House with new Conservative peers to provide them with a working majority. Many of the unwritten rules governing the relationship between the Commons and the Lords have been tested in recent years, including the Salisbury Convention. However, Mrs May’s Government has not been so bold as to consider what many would see as a flagrantly undemocratic move.

Numbers of new peers created have fallen from 244 under ’s six years as Prime Minister to only 37 to date under Theresa May. Many peerages conferred under Mrs May’s time in office arose from Mr Cameron’s 2016 Resignation Honours List.

The question of the size and membership of the has been taken up by peers, as reform has fallen off the legislative agenda. A committee chaired by the Lord Speaker, Lord Fowler, recommended that the Upper House adopt a “two out, one in system” to bring the size of the House down from around 800 peers to 600 over the course of a decade. The Prime Minister responded to the

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suggestion by calling for Labour and Liberal Democrat peers to retire to cut the size of the House and pledged to end “automatic entitlement” peerages for holders of high public office. She also committed to publishing a “small list” of new Conservative peers in due course.

On 18 May 2018, the Government published a list of 13 new peers for the House of Lords. Nine of the new peers are Conservatives, three will be Labour and one for the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). Seven of the new Conservative and DUP peers are former MPs, whilst former Labour General Secretary Iain McNicol was made a peer by . One of the most controversial appointments was Mr Corbyn’s choice of immigration, employment rights and racial discrimination campaigner, Martha Osamor.

Unveiled on the eve of the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of , the appointments and their timing drew criticism. Labour peer Lord Adonis was granted a Private Notice Question in the Upper House on the Government’s plans for future size and composition of the Lords on 21 May. Responding, Government Lords Spokesperson Lord Young of Cookham insisted that his party was still “underrepresented” in the Lords, making up 31% of the House when it took 42% of the votes in the 2017 General Election.

So much of the relationship between the Commons and the Lords is governed by unwritten conventions and historical precedents, which are being tested more than ever in the rigours of modern politics. The newest members of the House of Lords must learn to walk a tightrope of being a political appointee in a democratic system.

DeHavilland has prepared biographies for each of the 13 new peers below.

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Diana Barran established the charity, SafeLives in 2005 to end domestic abuse. Between 2004 and 2017, she was the charity’s chief executive. The organisation began as a group of people working around Ms Barran’s kitchen table.

An interview in in 2014 highlighted how Ms Barran had first learned about the impact of domestic abuse during her work at New Philanthropy Capital. She welcomed the Coalition Government’s proposals to introduce a new criminal offence of domestic abuse to include emotional and psychological harm. Ms Barran supported Prime Minister Theresa May’s pledge in 2017 to bring in new laws to protect women from domestic violence.

Educated at Benenden School in Kent, Ms Barran studied for a BA in History at King’s College, Cambridge University.

She began her career in investment banking in Paris and London working for Morgan Grenfell and Enskilda Assessment Management Ms Barran founded the European hedge fund Barran and Partners in 1993. She moved to become Head of Grant Development and donor adviser for New Philanthropy Capital in 2002.

She has been a trustee of Comic Relief and chair of the Henry Smith Society.

Married and with four children, Ms Barran was awarded an MBE in 2011 for her work in addressing domestic violence. Her interests include yoga, sailing and spending time with her family. Ms Barran lives in Bath.

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Former Conservative MP Sir Edward Garnier lists agriculture, defence, foreign affairs, education and constitutional affairs as his main areas of interest. He retired from the Commons after 25 years prior to the 2017 General Election.

A legal expert due to his career as a libel lawyer, he has expressed concerns about the impact of public allegations of criminality against high-profile individuals such as MPs.

After leaving the Commons in 2017, he wrote an article for The Times in which he advocated tightening the UK's corporate criminal laws. Sir Edward was also appointed to the Prosecution Counsel Panel for the Serious Fraud Office 2017-2021.

He also spoke out to defend the "rational" assessments made by the Parole Board in January 2018, following its decision to release offender John Worboys.

A trustee of the Prison Reform Trust, Sir Edward used a BBC interview in August 2017 to warn the Government that dissatisfaction among prison governors, officers and prisoners would increase until prisoner numbers saw an overall reduction.

Having served as Shadow Attorney General under ’s leadership from 1999 to 2001, Sir Edward returned to the front bench in 2005 as a Shadow Minister in the .

After two years in this position, he moved into the Shadow Justice team, taking on the Prisons brief.

In 2009, Sir Edward returned to the Shadow Attorney General portfolio, a position he held until the formation of the Coalition Government which saw him appointed Solicitor General.

However, he did not survive Prime Minister David Cameron's first wide-scale Cabinet reshuffle in September 2012, and returned to the backbenches. Shortly afterwards, he became one of four outgoing ministers to receive a knighthood.

Generally considered to be among the progressive ranks of the Conservative Party, Sir Edward supported Ken Clarke in his leadership campaign and formerly served as Treasurer of the of left-leaning Conservative MPs.

He supported a Remain vote in the 2016 referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU.

Having initially supported 's candidacy in the 2016 Conservative Party leadership election, he transferred his loyalties to Theresa May when Mr Gove withdrew from the contest.

A practising barrister specialising in libel law, he has been involved in many high-profile cases.

Notably, he represented Conservative peer Lord McAlpine in his dispute with over comments she made on . He also represented in 2000.

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Sir Edward was called to the Bar in 1976 and was appointed to the Queen’s Counsel in 1995. Three years later, he was made a Crown Court Recorder.

He was also formerly a lawyer for the Guardian newspaper.

Born in Germany where his father was posted during military service, Sir Edward divides his time between London and .

After reading Modern History at Jesus College, Oxford, Sir Edward went on to study at the College of Law, London.

He married Anna Caroline Meadows in 1982, and the couple have three children.

His cousin is Conservative MP .

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Former public affairs consultant Sir Alan Haselhurst lists his main political interests as the , education, aerospace, aviation, youth affairs, agriculture, and community development. He had served 40 years in the House of Commons before retiring in June 2017.

He served as a Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons from 1997 to 2010.

In July 2015, Sir Alan became a member of the Finance Select Committee, having served on its predecessor, the Finance and , since 2008. He has previously served on a number of Select Committees, including the Ecclesiastical Committee, the Liaison Committee, the , the Finance and Services Committee, the European Legislation Sub- Committee on Roads Safety Competence, the Transport Committee, and the Committee on European Legislation.

A frequent rebel during the Thatcher era, he is generally regarded as being on the social and economic left of the Conservative Party.

A former Deputy Chair of the Conservative Group for Europe, he backed a Remain vote in the 2016 referendum on the UK's membership of the EU.

He was a fierce opponent of the creation of a third runway at Heathrow and fought for improvements to the West Anglia rail line.

A public affairs consultant before his election to Parliament, Sir Alan’s career focused on the plastics and chemicals industry both at home and abroad.

An Oxford graduate, he was President of the Oxford University before becoming active with the local Young Conservatives.

Married with three children, in his spare time he enjoys watching cricket and going to the theatre. An avid cricket fan, Sir Alan has published a number of books on the subject and is President of the West Cricket District Board.

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A former Conservative Cabinet minister, Peter Lilley was instrumental in the creation of the Thatcherite “No Turning Back” group, founded in the mid-eighties to defend the then-Prime Minister’s free market reforms. He was an MP from 1983 to 2017.

Mr Lilley is a prominent sceptic concerning what he has characterised as “global warming alarmism”.

He lists his political interests as “economic policy, European Union, education [and] race relations”, while his geographical areas of focus are France and central Asia.

In keeping with his long-standing Euroscepticism, he backed a Leave vote in the 2016 referendum on the UK's membership of the EU. He supported fellow Leaver in the short-lived Conservative Party leadership contest that followed the country's vote.

Protecting the green belt surrounding Hitchin and Harpenden is a major local policy concern for Mr Lilley, as are efforts to establish a new native forest in the Hertfordshire area.

Originally entered Parliament in 1983, his first appointment was as PPS to then Chancellor Nigel Lawson.

Mr Lilley was as Economic Secretary to the Treasury, from 1987 to 1989. Following this, he moved to become Financial Secretary to the Treasury for the period 1989-1990.

In 1990, Mr Lilley was promoted to become Trade and Industry Secretary. He served in this role until 1992, during which time he was said to be the least widely-known Cabinet Minister in polls of the public.

From 1992 until the Conservatives were ousted in the 1997 General Election, he filled the position of Social Security Secretary, during which time his renown grew, owing partly to some well-received speeches given at successive party Conferences, featuring what termed “soundbites [..] about single mothers, socialists and Europeans on the make”.

After Labour came to power, Mr Lilley finally briefly served as Shadow Chancellor, before returning to the backbenches in 1998.

Mr Lilley ran for the Conservative leadership in 1997, but was beaten by William Hague, coming second to last out of five candidates.

He was the Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party from 1998 to 1999. A familiar Conservative figure, he continues to make regular media appearances on behalf of the party, such as on Radio 4’s Today Programme.

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Although not as high-profile nor as politically active as he may once have been, in 2010, he was selected to propose the Queen's Speech for debate in the Commons, where his witty speech was well received across the House.

Reflecting his knowledge of international affairs, Mr Lilley was appointed as Prime Minister David Cameron's foreign policy adviser in May 2013. In April 2013, it was announced that Mr Lilley was also to join the newly-created Conservative Parliamentary Advisory Board, taking on the foreign affairs brief.

Mr Lilley also served on a number of Select Committees during his Parliamentary career.

The first of these appointments came shortly after his election as an MP in 1983, when he became a member of the Treasury and Civil Service Committee. He has served on the Public Accounts Committee, the Environmental Audit Committee and the Exiting the

From 2012 to 2015, Mr Lilley was a member of the Energy and Climate Change Committee. As a climate change sceptic, his appointment to this Committee was notably controversial, with critics further pointing to his significant business interests in oil and gas companies.

First elected to the Commons in 1983, Mr Lilley sat as MP for St Albans before boundary changes in 1997 saw him become MP for Hitchin and Harpenden.

A successful economist and oil trader before entering politics, Mr Lilley was a Director with Greenwell Montagu Stockbrokers.

In 2002 he returned to the territory of his original career, becoming a non-executive Director of Melchior Japan Investment Trust, Tethys Petroleum and IDOX.

A former Chair of the , the centre-right think tank within the Conservative Party, from 1973 to 1975, he went on to become consultant Director of the Conservative Research Department from 1979 to 1983.

Born during the Second World War in Hayes, Kent, Mr Lilley was the son of a BBC personnel officer, and was educated at Dulwich College, before going on to study Economics and Physics at Clare College, Cambridge.

A profile published in the Independent in 1994 recounts that Mr Lilley made “no public mark in college”, having been “too frightened through shyness to debate”.

He has been married to Gail Ansell, an artist, since 1979. Mr Lilley was known in the media during his tenure as Social Security Secretary for owning a chateau in Normandy.

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As Founder and former chief executive of Action Against Abduction, Catherine Meyer has extensive experience of campaigning against child abduction in America, Brussels and Westminster.

She founded the charity Parents & Abducted Children Together (PACT) in 1999.

Her work in the UK began after returning from the States in 2003 and included joining the Home Secretary's Strategic Oversight Group on missing people, created in 2006 by Lord David Blunkett. Lady Meyer’s campaigns have dealt with the difficulties in measuring how many children go missing each year and her efforts were credited by the Home Office in changes to child protection services unveiled in 2011.

Politically, Lady Meyer has been involved in the Vote 2004, which called for a referendum on the EU Constitution and has also been National Treasurer of the Conservative Party from 2010 to 2015.

Born in Germany, Lady Meyer is the daughter of a Russian mother and a French naval officer. She moved to Africa with her parents, before settling in London. Lady Meyer studied for a degree in Slavonic and East European studies at London University.

A stockbroker by profession, Lady Meyer published her Handbook on the Mechanism of the London Metal Exchange Option Market in 1982.

Having lived in Germany with her first husband, Hans-Peter Volkmann, until they separated in 1992, Lady Meyer married Sir Christopher in 1997 shortly before his appointment as UK Ambassador to Washington DC. Her five and half years in the US saw her become heavily involved in campaigning against international parental abduction.

Lady Meyer was awarded a CBE in 2012 for services to children and family. She is married to Sir Christopher Meyer, the former UK Ambassador to the United States.

Married for the first time to a German national, Lady Meyer fought a decade-long custody battle to see her two sons, Alexander and Constantin, after their father refused to return them to her custody after a summer holiday in 1994.

Her experiences of these events are found in her books, Two Children behind a Wall and They Are My Children Too.

The Sun has described her as a “personal friend” of Prime Minister Theresa May.

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A former council leader, local government has long been Sir Eric’s defining political passion. Possessed of a deep-seated commitment to the Conservative Party, he played a central role in developing policy under David Cameron.

Sir Eric served on the Conservative front bench from 1998 to 2015 and joined the Shadow Cabinet for the first time in 2002.

A combination of his experience in northern England and his spearheading of the Conservatives’ successful Crewe and Nantwich by-election campaign (seeing the party take what had been until then a safe Labour seat) meant that David Cameron moved him away from the Shadow Communities and Local Government brief to the post of Party Chairman in time for the General Election campaign.

Sir Eric was appointed the Communities and Local Government Secretary, and quickly set about implementing the agenda he had advocated so enthusiastically in opposition.

He has publicly committed himself to a significant reduction in the size of his department, insisting that it had become too large and that it would be trimmed to focus only on administering grants and ensuring that Whitehall was genuinely devolving power down to local authorities.

Following Baroness Warsi’s sudden departure from government in August 2014, Mr Eric took on her faith and communities brief. As Minister for Faith, he worked with religious and community leaders to promote faith, religious tolerance and stronger communities within the UK.

Following the 2015 General Election, he left the Cabinet being appointed as the Government's "Anti- Corruption Tsar". As part of this, Sir Eric was tasked with reviewing electoral fraud and making recommendations on what more could be done to tackle it. He was also appointed the Special Envoy for post-Holocaust issues. After standing down from the Parliament, Sir Eric was appointed to be co-chair of the UK Holocaust Memorial Trust Advisory Board with former Labour MP .

Drawing on his experience as Conservative Party Chair, Sir Eric warned the Conservative Party to be prepared for "sudden elections" in October 2017. He wanted to see the party establish a manifesto committee and new youth wing, following a review of the June 2017 General Election result.

He backed a Remain vote in the 2016 referendum on the UK's membership of the EU.

The son of two Labour voters, Sir Eric joined the Conservatives at the age of 16 in protest at Soviet activities in Eastern Europe.

After leaving a local grammar school to study at Leeds Polytechnic, he became an active member of his local Conservative association. By his late twenties, he was leader of the Conservative group on his local council.

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His tenure as leader of Bradford Council was documented in journalist Paul Grogan’s book The Pickles Papers.

He worked as an employment consultant before embarking on his political career.

A Yorkshireman who is proud of his working-class roots and his background in local government, Sir Eric told the Times in 2010 that he has “always felt very proud to be super-common”.

He is rarely shy of making jokes at his own expense, particularly focusing on his love of food. An Arsenal FC supporter, he is also an avid viewer of classic westerns, a fact that is said to have endeared him to the selection panel when he first applied for his Parliamentary seat.

He is an aficionado of opera and birdwatching. He is a member of the RSPB.

He was awarded a knighthood for public service as an MP and minister in May 2015.

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Sir John Randall was appointed Special Adviser on the environment to Prime Minister Theresa May in September 2017. He worked as part of the No 10 Policy Unit.

During his eighteen years as an MP, his policy interests included numerous and include the environment, trade and industry, foreign affairs, transport, human trafficking, and sport.

He opposed the Iraq War and voted against the introduction of foundation hospitals, and against tuition fees. Additionally, Sir John has strongly opposed the expansion of Heathrow Airport, which borders his Uxbridge constituency. Fluent in Serbo-Croat, he has a keen interest in the Balkans and Eastern Europe.

In 2001-2002 Parliament, Sir John put forward a Private Members’ Bill on marine wildlife conservation, but the legislation failed to reach the statute book.

Sir John introduced a Ten Minute Rule Motion in February 2015 to set biodiversity and other targets for 2040, establish a Natural Capital Committee, require local authorities to maintain local ecological network strategies, to identify species threatened with extinction, to make provision for access to high quality natural green space and to include education about the natural environment in the curriculum for maintained schools.

A familiar face on David Cameron’s opposition front benches, Sir John was Assistant Chief Whip for the entirety of Mr Cameron’s tenure as Leader of the Opposition. Upon winning the election, Sir John was promoted to Deputy Chief Whip.

He resigned from the Whips Office in 2003 in protest at the Conservative Party's position on the Iraq War, having been an Opposition Whip since December 1999. He was reappointed within three months.

Sir John retired from the Whips Office again in October 2013 and stood down from Parliament at the 2015 General Election

He served as a member of the Draft Modern Slavery Bill Committee, the Joint Committee on Security, the Administration Committee, the Selection Committee, the Transport Committee and the Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Committee, among others.

Sir John was first elected to Parliament in 1997, representing the now abolished seat of Uxbridge. At the 2010 general election boundary changes meant that the seat was renamed Uxbridge and South Ruislip, and Sir John won with a comfortable majority of 11,216 votes.

Before becoming an MP, Sir John ran his family’s department store in the centre of Uxbridge. He won the 1997 by-election that was triggered by the death of Sir Michael Shersby and became the first Conservative to win a by-election since William Hague in 1989.

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Sir John was educated at Rutland House School, Hillingdon, and Merchant Taylors School in Hertfordshire. He has a degree in Serbo-Croat from the University of London, and also speaks Russian.

Sir John is married to Kate and the couple have two sons and daughter. He has lived in Uxbridge his whole life, and is an avid support for Uxbridge Football Club.

He was knighted in October 2013. In his spare time, he enjoys birdwatching and wildlife.

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Amanda Sater served as Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party from September 2016, in which she took the responsibility for women.

A marketing executive by profession, she has been Director of the Institute of Sales Promotion. Ms Sater has been Chair of the charity, StreetGames, which seeks to bring sport to disadvantaged young people in the UK. In addition, Ms Sater has chaired the Queen’s Club Foundation.

She has sat on the boards of several organisations such as Addaction, the British Lung Foundation, the Youth Justice Board and the Metropolitan Police Authority.

Ms Sater has been involved in the Conservative campaign group, Women2Win, set-up by Prime Minister Theresa May.

She has served as a magistrate, sitting on the Inner London Youth Bench for over a decade and a half.

Ms Sater played tennis as a Welsh county and national player when she was younger.

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An economist by profession, Andrew Tyrie’s primary policy interests are economic issues, the financial sector, and corporate governance. He served as MP for from 1997 to 2017.

Mr Tyrie was elected Chair of the Treasury Select Committee in June 2010, arguably the most powerful role available to any . He defeated the MP many assumed was the favourite, , a longstanding member of the Committee, by 352 votes to 219.

He is arguably best known for his work at the helm of influential inquiries into the financial services sector, and he possesses detailed knowledge of the sector. He is frequently willing to take a stand on matters of principle, and has been energetic in his interrogation of Committee witnesses, including his efforts to debunk the pro-Brexit rhetoric of during the EU Referendum campaign. He personally came out in support of remaining in the EU.

He became a familiar face in the Chamber following major financial Statements such as Budgets, following on from ministers and their shadows by offering a technical critique of their policy announcements.

Reflecting his experience chairing the Treasury Committee, in July 2012 he was also given the formidable task of chairing the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, following the high- profile controversy surrounding Barclays and the inter-bank lending rate (Libor).

After chairing the PCBS, Mr Tyrie described how “a lack of personal responsibility” had been commonplace in the financial sector, and called for remuneration to be “better focussed on generating long-term benefits for banks and their customers”.

As Chair of the Treasury Committee he initiated inquiries into SME lending, the treatment of financial service consumers, credit rating agencies, the financing of HS2, and Scottish devolution, not to mention investigations into a slew of cases of impropriety in the sector.

During these sessions, he has extolled the view that economic growth must be based on stable banking, and often criticised senior staff for not taking personal responsibility for practices in their organisations.

In the 2015-17 Parliament, Mr Tyrie served as Chair of the Commons Liaison Committee, the committee for select committee chairs tasked with quizzing the Prime Minister. He stood down from the Commons at the 2017 General Election.

In April 2018, Mr Tyrie was confirmed as the Chair of the Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA). He indicated a desire to use his new role to lead probes into the four big accountancy firms and the energy markets.

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Mr Tyrie was previously Shadow Minister for Economic Affairs and Shadow under in the mid-2000s, before returning to the backbenches.

Mr Tyrie established the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Extraordinary Rendition in 2005 – a group dedicated to establishing the truth about the scope and scale of UK involvement in rendition practices – and has often criticised the Government on human rights related issues.

Historically, Mr Tyrie has been one of the Tories’ most vocal supporters of an elected House of Lords, and has also campaigned on issues concerning equitable life and the natural environment. In keeping with his socially progressive outlook, he was heavily involved in Ken Clarke’s unsuccessful bid for the Tory leadership in 2001. In the 1997 leadership election, he initially supported Peter Lilley before later transferring his allegiance to William Hague.

Until his selection as Parliamentary candidate for Chichester, Mr Tyrie was Senior Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

He had previously been a full-time adviser to successive Chancellors of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson and , advising them on reducing taxes (particularly Income Tax), privatisation, encouraging enterprise, and cutting red tape. He started his career in industry with British Petroleum.

Educated at Felsted School and Trinity College, Oxford, where he studied PPE, Mr Tyrie was the first member of his family to go to university. He later obtained postgraduate qualifications from the in Bruges and Wolfson College, Cambridge.

He keeps fit by running on the South Downs and is passionate about "preserving the natural beauty of the Chichester District and the Downs for generations to come".

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A campaigner on immigration, employment rights and racial discrimination, Martha Osamor was one of three Labour peers nominated by Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Crediting her father as her inspiration for being involved in community political activities, Ms Osamor initially joined the Socialist Workers’ Party before moving to Labour in 1979-80. She campaigned on issues including the Sus law, policing and schools.

She was one of many voices who protested the shooting of Mark Duggan by Metropolitan Police in 2011, citing concerns that history was repeating itself.

Her nomination for a peerage in May 2018 was not without controversy as it emerged that Ms Osamor had signed a letter in June 2016 calling for the reinstatement of Labour members suspended on allegations of anti-Semitism.

Nigerian by birth, Ms Osamor moved to the UK in 1963 to join her husband, who was studying. The couple lived in Harginey in North London, before Ms Osamor’s husband returned to Nigeria, where he was killed in car accident.

A teacher by profession. She was a member of the pressure group Black Sections in Labour in the 1980s. Ms Osamor was made deputy leader of Haringey Council in the 1989. In 1989, Ms Osamor was selected to contest the Vauxhall by-election by the local party, but was replaced by Kate Hoey at the request of the then national leadership.

Ms Osamor has chaired the Haringey Law Centre and been involved in the organisation since the 1970s.

She is the mother of Shadow International Development Secretary Kate Osamor, who was elected as MP for Edmonton in 2015.

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A activist, writer and campaigner, Pauline Bryan was one of three people nominated for peerages by Jeremy Corbyn in May 2018.

Her political philosophy is reflected in her work for the Red Paper Collective, a group who promote an alternative perspective for Labour to take when it comes to the question of Scottish independence. A blog post for LabourList in September 2017 saw her calling for “class solidarity” to be built across borders between all parts of the UK.

She has praised the election of Mr Corbyn as Labour Leader as a “lifeline for the Left”.

Following her nomination, the Mail on Sunday chose to highlight some of her views in an article, including calling for the abolition of the House of Lords, the Monarchy and MI5.

A founding member of the Society, Ms Bryan wrote the 2015 book What Would Keir Hardie Say?

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Former Labour General Secretary Iain McNicol was elevated to the House of Lords by Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn in May 2018.

His elevation to the Lords came after some close to Mr Corbyn appeared to question his handling of the anti-Semitism row within Labour, particularly what they claimed was a lack of action under McNicol's tenure as General Secretary to implement to review carried out by Baroness Chakrabarti.

Iain McNicol was appointed General Secretary of the Labour Party in July 2011, beating former acting General Secretary Chris Lennie in the contest to replace Ray Collins. He took up the position in September 2011, becoming the party’s most senior employee. He held the role until March 2018, when he was succeeded by .

As part of the role, Mr McNicol was responsible for employing staff, the party’s campaign and media strategy, and organising party conferences. He also acted as the non-voting secretary to the National Executive Committee. He oversaw the party fight two General Elections, two referendums (Scottish independence and EU), devolved elections and local elections.

McNicol spent the final years of his tenure at odds with Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters, amid rumours of attempts to remove him. This difficult relationship was underlined during the 2016 leadership elections, where there were press reports that McNicol had attempted to prevent Mr Corbyn being allowed on to the ballot. He also faced a legal challenge over a decision by Labour's NEC to disallow party members who had joined after 12 January 2016 to vote in the ballot.

Labour also faced allegations of anti-Semitism amongst its membership, including from former Mayor of London . One of McNicol's final acts as Labour General Secretary was to extend Mr Livingstone's suspension from the party.

Mr McNicol’s tenure as General Secretary was not without controversy. In March 2012, the Guardian reported that trust had broken down between the Labour Party's headquarters and the leader's office in the wake of a “disastrous meeting”, and that Mr McNicol was “rounded on” by long-serving staff.

Studying Building Management at the University of Abertay Dundee from 1988 to 1991, Mr McNicol went on to work as the Campaigns Officer for in 1993. A year later he became a Labour organiser and agent, operating primarily in the Brentford and Isleworth Constituency.

Following Labour’s victory in 1997, Mr McNicol served as a research, organisation, and political officer with the GMB Union, and in 1998 was appointed as a Regional Organiser. In July 2004 he became a National Political Officer, a role he would hold for seven years.

According to Mr McNicol’s Twitter account, he plays the bagpipes and is a black belt in karate.

He is married and has two children.

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A former DUP MP who stood down from the Commons in 2015, Dr William McCrea’s policy interests include agriculture, health, elderly issues, environment, special needs education, and planning.

A supporter of homeopathy medicine, Dr McCrea has supported Commons motions calling for homeopathic research to be funded by the National Health Service.

Since 2005 Dr McCrea has performed several Shadow Spokesperson roles for the DUP, including those on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Communities and Local Government; Home Affairs; and Justice.

In 2009 he was appointed as Shadow DUP Leader of the House of Commons.

In 2006 Dr McCrea joined the , before sitting on the Public Accounts Commission (2010- 11), and then the Draft House of Lords Reform Bill Joint Committee (2011-12).

He has been a member of the APPGs on Funerals and Bereavements, Diabetes, and Boarding Schools.

Dr McCrea was in and out of the Commons between 1983 and 2015.

He was first elected as MP for Mid Ulster, but lost his seat to Martin McGuiness in 1997. Following a by-election after the death of the Ulster Unionist MP Clifford Forsythe in 2000, Dr McCrea re-entered the Commons as Member for South Antrim, but lost the seat one year later.

In 2005 Dr McCrea retook the South Antrim seat, and retained it at the 2010 General Election. However, his share of the vote dropped by 6.4 per cent, giving him a majority of just 1,183.

His political career began in 1973 when Dr McCrea became a member of Magherafelt District Council, which he served as a councillor until 2010. He also acted as Mayor in 1977-8 and 1981-2.

From 1998 to 2007 he was a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Mid Ulster. At the 2007 election he was elected as Assembly Member for South Antrim.

A minister of Magherafelt Free Presbyterian Church, Dr McCrea has recorded several gospel albums.

The Reverend Doctor is the youngest of five children, born in Northern Ireland in 1948.

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