The House of Lords Appointments Commission is an independent advisory
non-departmental public body
In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process o ...
in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
. It has two roles:
*to recommend at least two people a year for appointment as non-party-political
life peers who sit on the
crossbenches
A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...
;
*to
vet for propriety most other nominations for membership of the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...
, including those nominated by the UK
political parties
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
, nominations put forward by the Prime Minister for ministerial appointment in the House of Lords, for public service, and nominations in the Honours lists (including Resignation and Dissolution).
The Commission does not vet for propriety the appointments of the
Bishops or Archbishops or the 92 hereditary peers who still sit in the House of Lords.
The Commission was established in May 2000 to assist the transitional arrangements for
reform of the House of Lords. The role of the
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
in making ''non-partisan'' recommendations to the
King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...
for creation of life peerages was partially transferred to the Commission, in order to ensure greater transparency in the process. It was also given oversight of all other appointments to the Lords, including ''partisan'' nominations.
Members
The Commission has non-partisan members as well as representatives from the House of Lords of the three largest political parties:
* Chair:
The Lord Bew (member since 2007; Chair since November 2018)
* Non-party political members:
**
The Lord Chartes (member since 2019)
**
Dame Fionnuala Jay-O'Boyle (member since 2019)
**
Harry Mount (member since 2022)
* Members nominated by the three major parties:
**
Conservatives:
The Baroness Browning (member since 2018)
**
Labour:
The Baroness Taylor of Bolton (member since 2022)
**
Liberal Democrats:
The Baroness Parminter
"People's peers"
The Commission makes recommendations for the appointment of non-partisan life peers. It has established for itself seven criteria upon which to base its decisions, seeking to recommend people with
* a record of significant achievement within their chosen way of life;
* the ability to make an effective and significant contribution to the work of the House of Lords;
* the time available to ensure they can make a contribution;
* some understanding of the constitutional framework, including the place of the House of Lords;
* integrity and independence;
* a commitment to the highest standards of public life; and
* independence from any political party.
The Commission has made recommendations for appointment on 16 occasions since its establishment in 2000, with a total of 67 people being recommended for peerages. All of these individuals went on to be nominated as and created life peers. Upon taking their seats, every one of them joined the
crossbenches
A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...
.
The fact that the type of people considered by the Commission for peers were to be neither
aristocratic
Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'.
At the time of the word' ...
nor members of the "political class" led some in the British media to describe those it was to appoint as "people's peers".
This term has never been a formal classification.
The purpose of the reform was to make the process more open and those making appointments more accountable. Upon the establishment of the Commission, the Prime Minister
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of t ...
said it would ensure a House of Lords that was "more representative of our diverse society"; suitable candidates would be sought "in a wider field than up to now".
Following the first set of appointments in April 2001, it was, however, pointed out that those chosen included several knights as well as leading academics and scientists, having much the same establishment background that would have been made peers anyway. The Labour MP
Diane Abbott
Diane Julie Abbott (born 27 September 1953) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Hackney North and Stoke Newington since 1987. A member of the Labour Party, she served in the Shadow Cabinet of Jeremy Corbyn as ...
described them as "the
metropolitan elite".
Appointments
The people recommended for appointment as life peers by the Commission since its establishment are listed below, by date of recommendation.
26 April 2001
*
Victor Adebowale CBE
*
Richard Best OBE
*
Amir Bhatia OBE
*
Sir John Browne
*
Michael Chan MBE
*
Sir Paul Condon QPM
*
Ilora Finlay
*
Susan Greenfield CBE
*
Sir David Hannay GCMG CH
*
Valerie Howarth
*
Lady Howe of Aberavon CBE
*
Sir Robert May OM AC
*
Sir Claus Moser KCB CBE
*
Sir Herman Ouseley
*
Sir Stewart Sutherland KT
1 May 2004
*
Sir Alec Broers
*
Nicola Chapman
*
Sir Ewen Cameron
*
Frances D'Souza CMG PC
*
Elaine Murphy
*
Lola Young OBE
*
Diljit Rana MBE
22 March 2005
*
Dame Rennie Fritchie DBE
*
General Sir David Ramsbotham GCB CBE
22 July 2005
*
Dame Ruth Deech DBE
*
Michael Hastings CBE
*
Sir Martin Rees OM
*
Adair Turner
*
Jo Valentine
3 May 2006
*
Colin Low CBE
*
Sir David Rowe-Beddoe
*
Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss GBE
*
Sir Geoffrey Dear QPM
*
Kamlesh Patel OBE
*
Karan Bilimoria CBE
*
Molly Meacher
15 February 2007
*
Paul Bew
Paul Anthony Elliott Bew, Baron Bew (born 22 January 1950), is a British historian from Northern Ireland and a life peer. He has worked at Queen's University Belfast since 1979, and is currently Professor of Irish Politics, a position he has ...
*
Dame Jane Campbell DBE
*
Jean Coussins
*
Khalid Hameed CBE
*
Sir John Krebs
*
Andrew Mawson OBE
18 October 2007
*
Haleh Afshar OBE
*
Sir Nicholas Stern
Nicholas Herbert Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford, (born 22 April 1946 in Hammersmith) is a British economist, banker, and academic. He is the IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government and Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Cli ...
18 April 2008
*
The Hon. Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller DCB
*
Sir John Mogg KCMG
*
Sir Robert Smith
29 September 2008
*
Susan Campbell CBE
*
David Pannick QC
13 July 2009
*
Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks
*
Dame Nuala O'Loan DBE
5 February 2010
*
Sir Michael Bichard KCB
*
Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson DBE
*
Tony Hall CBE
*
Ajay Kakkar
5 October 2010
*
Peter Hennessy
Peter John Hennessy, Baron Hennessy of Nympsfield, (born 28 March 1947) is an English historian and academic specialising in the history of government. Since 1992, he has been Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History at Queen Mary Univ ...
*
Sheila Hollins
Sheila Clare Hollins, Baroness Hollins, (born 22 June 1946) is a professor of the psychiatry of learning disability at St George's, University of London, and was created a crossbench life peer in the House of Lords on 15 November 2010 taking th ...
5 September 2011
*
Indarjit Singh CBE
*
Sir Donald Curry CBE
17 May 2012
*
Beeban Kidron OBE
*
Alexander Trees
27 February 2013
*
Martha Lane Fox CBE
*
Michael Berkeley CBE
13 October 2015
*
John Bird MBE
*
Dame Julia King DBE
*
Robert Mair CBE
*
Mary Watkins
Mary D. Watkins (born 1939, Denver, Colorado) is an American composer and pianist in jazz and classical music.
Watkins graduated from Howard University in 1972 and began performing in jazz ensembles in Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline ...
8 June 2018
*
Sir David Anderson KBE QC
*
Rosie Boycott
*
Deborah Bull CBE
24 February 2021
*
Dame Sue Black DBE
*
Sir Amyas Morse KCB
17 May 2022
*
Shaista Gohir OBE
*
Katherine Willis CBE
Objections to PM nominations
In March 2006, the Commission objected to several men proposed for working peerages by Prime Minister
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of t ...
, who had loaned large amounts of money to Blair's
Labour Party. This led to the "
Cash-for-Honours scandal
The Cash-for-Honours scandal (also known as Cash for Peerages, Loans for Lordships, Loans for Honours or Loans for Peerages) was a political scandal in the United Kingdom in 2006 and 2007 concerning the connection between political donations and ...
."
In 2020, the Commission objected to the nomination of
Peter Cruddas
Peter Andrew Cruddas, Baron Cruddas (born 30 September 1953) is an English banker and businessman. He is the founder of online trading company CMC Markets. In the 2007 Sunday Times Rich List, he was named the richest man in the City of London, ...
for a peerage by Prime Minister
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as ...
. Cruddas had donated over £1,000,000 to Johnson's
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
. Johnson nonetheless decided that the appointment should proceed, becoming the first ever prime minister to overrule an advice of the Commission.
See also
*
Lords Reform
Certain governments in the United Kingdom have, for more than a century, attempted to find a way to reform the House of Lords, the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. This process was started by the Parliament Act 1911 introdu ...
References
External links
House of Lords Appointments Commission
{{Cabinet Office
Westminster system
House of Lords
Cabinet Office (United Kingdom)
2000 establishments in the United Kingdom