\ For more information on DeHavilland and how we can help with political monitoring, custom research and consultancy, contact: +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 Edward Garnier QC ........................................................................................................................... 5 The Rt. Hon. Sir Alan Haselhurst.................................................................................................................................. 7 The Rt. Hon. Peter Lilley ................................................................................................................................................ 8 Catherine Meyer CBE ................................................................................................................................................... 10 The Rt. Hon. Sir Eric Pickles ........................................................................................................................................ 11 The Rt. Hon. Sir John Randall ...................................................................................................................................... 13 Amanda Sater ................................................................................................................................................................ 15 The Rt. Hon. Andrew Tyrie ......................................................................................................................................... 16 LABOUR PARTY ........................................................................................................................................ 18 Martha Osamor.............................................................................................................................................................. 18 Pauline Bryan ................................................................................................................................................................. 19 Iain McNicol ................................................................................................................................................................... 20 DEMOCRATIC UNIONIST PARTY (DUP) ...................................................................................... 21 Dr. William McCrea ...................................................................................................................................................... 21 DeHavilland Information Services Ltd 2018 1 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 Theresa May’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 David Cameron’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 House of Lords 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 DeHavilland Information Services Ltd 2018 2 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 Jeremy Corbyn. 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 Sussex, 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 Cabinet Office 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. DeHavilland Information Services Ltd 2018 3 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 the Guardian 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. DeHavilland Information Services Ltd 2018 4 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 William Hague’s leadership from 1999 to 2001, Sir Edward returned to the front bench in 2005 as a Shadow Minister in the Home Office. 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