THERESA MAY AND 'BIONIC' MP AWARDED PEERAGES

Former prime minister Theresa May will sit in the House of Lords having been nominated for a peerage alongside the former justice secretary, Chris Grayling, and the chair of the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady.

Conservative Craig Mackinley, who said he wanted to be known as the bionic MP after losing his hands and feet to sepsis, has also been nominated for a peerage.

Labour has picked its former deputy leader Harriet Harman, former foreign secretary Dame Margaret Beckett and Dame Margaret Hodge to sit in the House of Lords.

Dr Hilary Cass, who conducted a review into gender identity services, has been nominated as a crossbench peer.

The nominations were announced less than hour before polls closed in the general election.

In what could be one of his final acts as prime minister, Rishi Sunak has also given honours to five of his Conservative colleagues.

Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister and close ally of Mr Sunak, will be knighted, as will the former Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith, the former Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and the Scottish Secretary Alister Jack.

Therese Coffey, who was an ally of Liz Truss but also served under Mr Sunak as environment secretary, will be made a dame.

The Conservatives have also awarded peerages to:

• Liam Booth-Smith, Mr Sunak's chief of staff
• Sir Alok Sharma, who was president of the climate COP 26 conference
• Dame Eleanor Laing who served as deputy speaker of the House of Commons for over a decade

Dame Margaret Hodge said she was "humbled, honoured and delighted to be asked to go into the House of Lords.

"Having immigrated here as a young girl, neither I nor my parents would have ever dreamt that I would become a peer of the realm."

In addition to Harriet Harman, Dame Margaret Beckett and Dame Margaret Hodge the other Labour politicians to receive peerages are:

• John Cryer, a senior Labour MP until recently representing Leyton and Wanstead
• Kevan Jones, formerly the MP for North Durham and a champion of the workers caught up in the Post Office scandal.
• Barbara Keeley - a former MP for Worsley and Eccles South and a former shadow tourism minister
• John Spellar, a former MP for Warley, who served in several ministerial positions in the last Labour government
• Dame Rosie Winterton, former MP for Doncaster Central and former House of Commons deputy speaker

Liberal Democrat Caroline Pidgeon, who led the party in the London Assembly, joins the upper chamber, along with former leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, Thomas Elliott.

Minette Batters, former president of the National Farmers' Union, will be a crossbench peer.

2024-07-04T22:35:43Z dg43tfdfdgfd