Keir Starmer has nominated a raft of new Labour peers.
Partygate investigator and the prime minister’s former chief of staff, Sue Gray, is among the Labour figures set to be elevated to the House of Lords.
Luciana Berger, the former MP for Liverpool Wavertree who resigned from Labour in protest at Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership in 2019, is another who has been granted a peerage by the prime minister. Berger rejoined the Labour Party in 2023.
The former Change UK and Liberal Democrat politician is among thirty new life peers appointed by Starmer.
Other former MPs appointed to the Lords include Thangam Debbonaire, who served as shadow culture secretary before she lost her Bristol West seat at the general election; Kevin Brennan, who served as the Labour MP for Cardiff West MP from 2001 to 2024; Lyn Brown, Labour MP for West Ham from 2005 to 2024; and Steve McCabe, former Labour MP for Birmingham Hall Green and Birmingham Selly Oak, who served in parliament from 1997 to 2024.
Badenoch appoints allies to House of Lords, including former deputy PM Thérèse Coffey
A full list of Keir Starmer’s nominations can be found below:
- Professor Wendy Alexander FRSE – Vice Chair of the British Council, former Member of the Scottish Parliament for Paisley North and previously Labour Leader in the Scottish Parliament.
- Sir Brendan Barber – former General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress and former chair of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service.
- Luciana Berger – former Member of Parliament for Liverpool Wavertree and current Chair of the Maternal Mental Health Alliance.
- Mary Bousted – formerly the Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), and education policy adviser.
- Kevin Brennan – former Member of Parliament for Cardiff West and former Minister of State at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
- Lyn Brown – former Member of Parliament for West Ham and former Shadow Minister.
- Dinah Caine OBE CBE – Chair of Camden STEAM, formerly Chair of Goldsmiths University and CEO and Chair of Creative Skillset.
- Kay Carberry CBE – former Assistant General Secretary of the British Trades Union Congress (TUC).
- Margaret Curran – former Member of Parliament for Glasgow East and formerly Minister within the Scottish Executive.
- Thangam Debbonaire – former Member of Parliament for Bristol West and former Shadow Secretary of State.
- Julie Elliott – former Member of Parliament for Sunderland Central and former Shadow Minister.
- David Evans – former Labour Party Regional Director, Assistant General Secretary and General Secretary of the Labour Party 2020-2024.
- Sue Gray – former Chief of Staff to Prime Minister and former Cabinet Office Second Permanent Secretary.
- Theresa Griffin – former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for North West England.
- Anji Hunter – Senior Advisor at Edelman, and former Head of Government Relations in Downing Street.
- Carwyn Jones – former Member of the Senedd (MS) for Bridgend and First Minister of Wales.
- Mike Katz – National Chair of Jewish Labour Movement and a former Camden Councillor.
- Gerard Lemos CMG CBE – Social Policy expert and Chair of English Heritage, Chair of National Savings & Investments (NS&I), and Chair of London Institute of Banking and Finance.
- Alison Levitt KC – Master of the Bench of the Inner Temple. Previously Principal Legal Advisor to the Director of Public Prosecutions and a Circuit Judge specialising in serious crime, including rape.
- Anne Longfield CBE – Campaigner for children and formerly served as the Children’s Commissioner for England. Founder and Executive Chair of the Centre for Young Lives.
- Deborah Mattinson – former Director of Strategy to Sir Keir Starmer. Co-founder of BritainThinks.
- Steve McCabe – former Member of Parliament for Birmingham Hall Green and Birmingham Selly Oak, and former Government Whip.
- Claude Moraes OBE – former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for London and chair of the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee.
- Wendy Nichols – UNISON Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Convenor and Branch Secretary and Labour Councillor.
- Simon Pitkeathley – Currently the Chief Executive of Camden Town Unlimited and Euston Town, formerly the Mayor of London’s ‘Champion for Small Business’.
- Dame Anne Marie Rafferty DBE FRCN – Professor of nursing policy and former President of the Royal College of Nursing.
- Krish Raval OBE – Founding Director of Faith in Leadership.
- Marvin Rees OBE – former Mayor of Bristol and Head of Bristol City Council. Former journalist, voluntary sector manager and NHS public health manager.
- Revd Dr Russell David Rook OBE – Partner at the Good Faith Partnership and Anglican priest.
- Phil Wilson – former Member of Parliament for Sedgefield, and former Opposition Assistant Whip.
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Bluesky here.
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