Boris Johnson’s attempt to flood the Lords with dozens of new members could be derailed. The Lord Speaker is warning today that the Prime Minister’s plans risk undermining “public confidence in our parliamentary system”.
Lord McFall of Alcluith has written to the two candidates vying to become prime minister, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, urging them not to follow Johnson’s approach, which has seen the government mired in controversy about friendships
Senior Whitehall sources said the House of Lords Appointments Committee (Holac), the body responsible for the peerage inquiry, was stalling Johnson’s plans. McFall is talking to Lord Norton of Louth, a Conservative peer and constitutional expert, about his private member’s bill which seeks to give Holac statutory powers and prevent future prime ministers.