Ex-Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies and former chief of staff to Rachel Reeves among those to receive peerages | Politics News

The boss of a supermarket chain, a former head of communications for No 10 and an Olympic swimmer turned women’s rights activist are among those to have received a peerage.

Dozens of people have been nominated for gongs by politicians this afternoon, which are formally conferred by the King.

Sir Keir Starmer has put forward 25 people, while Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has nominated three. The Liberal Democrats have put forward five.

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One person has been put forward by peers in the House of Lords, bringing the total to 34.

Among those set to join the upper chamber are Richard Walker, the executive chairman of the supermarket chain Iceland, Matthew Doyle, a former No 10 director of communications, ex-Olympian Sharron Davies and Tory ex-cabinet minister Sir John Redwood.

Rachel Reeves’s former chief of staff, Katie Martin, is also among those nominated.

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.

“We will continue to progress our programme of reform, which includes removing the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the Lords.”

Despite the Labour appointments, the Tories will remain the largest party in the upper chamber.

Other prominent people given peerages by Labour include Carol Linforth, who has been a senior member of the party for years, and most prominently was the one to assist Sir Keir Starmer after a protester threw glitter at him during the 2023 party conference.

Len Duvall, the chair of the London Assembly and leader of the Labour group there has also been nominated, as has Sir Michael Barber, an adviser to the prime minister on effective delivery, and councillor Dr Sara Hyde, the chair of the left-leaning thinktank, the Fabian Society.

For the Lib Dems, their nominations include party CEO Mike Dixon, ex-chief of staff to Sir Ed Davey, Rhiannon Leaman, and two hereditary peers.

It was Ms Badenoch who nominated Ms Davies, who spoke at the Tory party conference, and has been a vocal defender of women’s rights – clashing with trans rights activists.

The list can be read in full here.