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Last week MPs were told that 16 or 17 individuals had been turned down for peerages in the last five years. Lord Bew, who chaired the UK’s House of Lords Appointments Commission (Holac) until October, could not remember the precise number but said the fact these rejections were not challenged by Number 10 “would imply that finally a new common sense is coming into place”.
A new report by Transparency International suggests otherwise. The campaign group has found that almost a quarter of nominations for the House of Lords have come from political donors.
In the last decade 68 out of 284 nominations came from individuals who had between them donated a total of £58 million to political parties. The vast majority – £53.4 million – went to the Conservative party.
During his evidence session last week Bew alluded to a case in 2020 in which “we did say no to a candidate and the prime minister then said yes”. The candidate was Peter Cruddas, who had donated more than £3 million to the Conservatives; the prime minister was Boris Johnson. Since then, Bew argued, Holac’s position has strengthened. But it remains advisory rather than statutory, leaving peerages in the gift of the prime minister.
A further probing of the data also suggests that many donor-peers contribute very little to House of Lords proceedings. In total, 50 sitting peers have never contributed more than five times in the chamber, most of them political appointees. Cruddas has spoken twice since he was ennobled. Another Johnson supporter, Anthony Bamford, who has donated more than £5 million to the Conservatives, has contributed only five times since 2013. Michael Spencer, who donated more than £7 million to the Conservatives, and was made a peer in 2020, has not contributed once since his maiden speech a year later.
Daniel Bruce, chief executive of Transparency International UK, said that with the absence of meaningful checks on political appointments, “combined with the limitless ability of the prime minister to appoint supporters and allies to the House of Lords, it is now increasingly clear that this patronage is bringing the second chamber into disrepute”.
The Westminster Accounts: Search for your MP to see what donations they’ve received.