RISHI SUNAK HANDS PEERAGE TO TOP AIDE ALONGSIDE THERESA MAY
Rishi Sunak has handed a peerage to his right-hand man in dissolution honours announced just hours before he is expected to be ousted from power.
No10 chief of staff Liam Booth-Smith, who is known as 'the Treasury Travolta' due to his love of a leather jacket, will enter the upper house among a slew of Tory big-hitters quitting the Commons.
The Dissolution Honours list, announced less than an hour before polls closed in the General Election, also includes former PM Theresa May and Tory backbench leader Sir Graham Brady.
More controversially there is also a peerage for Chris Grayling, a former minister nicknamed 'failing Grayling' by his critics after holding several senior roles.
For Labour, there is also a peerage for Harriet Harman, the long-serving former party deputy leader, who led Parliamentary efforts to censure Boris Johnson over Partygate.
Former deputy speaker Dame Eleanor Laing and ex-MP Craig Mackinlay, who has battled sepsis which cost him his hands and feet, have also been given peerages.
Former Cop26 president and Cabinet minister Sir Alok Sharma has also been made a peer.
Deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden, former chief whip Julian Smith, former defence secretary Ben Wallace and Scotland secretary Alister Jack have been nominated for knighthoods.
Among Sir Keir Starmer's other nominations for peerages are Dame Margaret Beckett, Margaret Hodge and Kevan Jones, the former defence minister.
Read more 2024-07-04T20:59:20Z dg43tfdfdgfd
