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PM announces 25 new members of the House of Lords, including his former director of communications
Kate DevlinWednesday 10 December 2025 21:43 GMTComments
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Olympic Swimming silver medallist Sharron Davies and the boss of the supermarket giant Iceland have been named among dozens of new people nominated for peerages by Sir Keir Starmer.
The prime minister has put forward 25 new members for the House of Lords, including his former director of communications Matthew Doyle and Rachel Reeves’s ex-chief of staff Katie Martin.
After being nominated, the prospective peers need to be vetted by the House of Lords Appointments Commission before they are appointed, usually a formality.
The list of potential new Lords follows staunch opposition from peers to Labour’s flagship Employment Rights Bill.
A Labour source said: “The Tories stuffed the House of Lords, creating a serious imbalance that has allowed them to frustrate our plans to make working families better off. This needs to be corrected to deliver on our mandate from the British people. “
open image in gallerySharron Davies delivers a speech during the Conservative Party Conference (PA Wire)Women’s rights activist Sharron Davies was nominated by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, alongside ex-Tory cabinet minister John Redwood and journalist and historian Simon Heffer.
Another Labour aide Carol Linforth, seen on stage removing Sir Keir’s jacket when he was glitter-bombed during his 2023 Labour conference speech, is also on the list, as well as Sir Michael Barber, who served in No 10 during Sir Tony Blair’s premiership.
Last year, he was appointed an adviser to Sir Keir to help him drive forward the delivery of his five “missions”.
Iceland boss Richard Walker abandoned the Tories for Labour before the last election.
At the weekend, a Labour source said he was a “committed champion for families dealing with the cost of living – from campaigning to make infant formula more affordable to helping customers avoid loan sharks. He will be a strong voice in parliament and we are delighted to welcome him.”
open image in galleryAll the new peers have been given a job for life in the House of Lords (PA)Mr Walker previously donated to the Conservatives and looked at standing for parliament for the party, but quit in 2023 before backing Labour.
At the time, he said the Tories had “moved away” from him, while Labour had “moved towards the centrist pragmatic views that I’ve long held”.
In 2019, Ms Davies was accused of “fuelling hate” after saying that transgender women should not be allowed to compete in female sport.
The swimmer, who won a silver medal at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow and two Commonwealth golds, denied that her comments were transphobic and claimed she had spoken to many other female athletes who “feel the same way”.
“I have nothing against anyone who wishes 2be transgender [sic]”, Davies wrote on Twitter, now X. “However, I believe there is a fundamental difference between the binary sex u r born with & the gender u may identify as. To protect women’s sport those with a male sex advantage should not be able 2compete in women’s sport.”
open image in galleryKeir Starmer with Richard Walker, who has been appointed to the House of Lords (PA)Earlier this year, she appeared on a panel at the Tory party conference.
The Liberal Democrats made a total of five nominations, including former MP and coalition government minister, Sarah Teather.
Two of the Lib Dem nominations, Lord Addington and Earl Russell, currently sit in the upper chamber as hereditary peers.
There were no peers from Reform.
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