Boris Johnson has been accused of cronyism after he gave a peerage to a former Conservative party co-treasurer in defiance of advice from the Lords Appointments Commission. Peter Cruddas, a businessman, philanthropist and Tory donor, was one of 16 people on a list of newly created political peerages – seven Conservative, five Labour, and four crossbench. In a highly unusual move, Downing Street published the list alongside an open letter from Johnson to Paul Bew, the chair of the commission, explaining why he was putting Cruddas in the upper house without its approval. Cruddas resigned as Conservative co-treasurer in 2012 after the Sunday Times claimed he was offering access to the prime minister for up to £250,000. A year later Cruddas won £180,000 in damages in a libel action, although that was subsequently reduced to £50,000 after aspects of the original allegations were upheld when the paper appealed. Announcing the full list of new political peers, Downing Street said: “The Lord Appointments Commission has completed its vetting in respect of all nominees. The commission advised the prime minister that it could not support one nominee: Peter Cruddas. “The prime minister has considered the commission’s advice and wider factors and concluded that, exceptionally, the nomination should proceed.” In his letter to Lord Bew defending his decision, Johnson said the allegations against Cruddas were from eight years ago and that there had been no other “matters of concern” before or since. The prime minister said “the most serious accusations levelled at the time were found to be untrue and libellous” and that an internal Conservative party investigation “found there had been no intentional wrongdoing”. Johnson added: “Mr Cruddas has made outstanding contributions in the charitable sector and in business and has continued his long track record of committed political service. His charitable foundation, which supports disadvantaged young people, has pledged over £16m to good causes through over 200 charities and he is a longstanding supporter of both the Prince’s Trust and the Duke of Edinburgh award.” The deputy Labour leader, Angela Rayner, said: “After months of revelations about the cronyism at the heart of this government, it’s somehow appropriate the prime minister has chosen to end the year with a peerage to Peter Cruddas. It’s never been more clear: there is one rule for the Conservatives and their chums, another for the rest of the country.” The appointment came only a month after Johnson essentially ignored the findings of another Whitehall standards regulator when he decided to keep Priti Patel as home secretary despite Alex Allan, his adviser on ministerial standards, concluding she had engaged in behaviour that could be seen as bullying. Allan resigned instead. Earlier in the year, Johnson was also accused of cronyism when he defended his then chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, after Cummings took his family out of London in what was widely seen as a breach of lockdown rules. In a critical response to the announcement, Norman Fowler, the Lord Speaker, said Johnson had created 52 new peers this year – taking the total size of the Lords to more than 830 – despite a cross-party agreement three years ago that numbers should over time be reduced to 600. Fowler suggested this “massive U-turn” would anger the public.
The other six new Tory peers are: the former MP and minister Sir Richard Benyon; the former MEPs Daniel Hannan, Syed Kamall and Dame Jacqueline Foster; Stephanie Fraser, the chief executive of Cerebral Palsy Scotland, and Dean Godson, the director of the Policy Exchange thinktank. Hannan and Godson are former colleagues of Johnson’s from the Daily Telegraph. When they arrive in the Lords they will join Charles Moore, the paper’s former editor, and Veronica Wadley, a former Telegraph executive, who were also made peers earlier this year. The five new Labour peers are: the former MPs Jennifer Chapman (now Keir Starmer’s political secretary), Gillian Merron (now the chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews) and Vernon Coaker; the former MEP Wajid Khan, and Judith Blake, the leader of Leeds city council. And the four new crossbench peers are: the Rt Rev John Sentamu, the former archbishop of York; Sir Simon McDonald, the former head of the Foreign Office; Sir Terence Etherton, master of the rolls, and Sir Andrew Parker, the former head of MI5.