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Boris Johnson has been charged with cronyism after he bestowed a peerage on a former Conservative party co-treasurer in defiance of the advice of the Lords Appointments Commission.
Peter Cruddas, a Conservative businessman, philanthropist and donor, was one of 16 people on a newly created list of members of the political nobility: seven Conservatives, five Labor, and four counterparts.
In a highly unusual move, Downing Street published the list along with an open letter from Johnson to Paul Bew, the commission’s chairman, explaining why he was putting Cruddas in the upper house without his 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 defamation lawsuit, although it was subsequently reduced to £ 50,000 after aspects of the original allegations were upheld when the document appealed.
In announcing the full list of new political peers, Downing Street said: “Lord’s Appointments Committee has completed its vetting of all nominees. The commission informed the prime minister that it could not endorse a nominee: Peter Cruddas.
“The prime minister has considered the advice of the commission and broader 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 eight years old and there had been no other “matters of concern” before or after.
The prime minister said that “the most serious allegations made at the time turned out to be false and defamatory” and that an internal investigation by the Conservative Party “determined that there were no intentional wrongdoing.”
Johnson added: “Mr. Cruddas has made outstanding contributions in the charitable sector and in business and has continued his long history of committed political service. His charitable foundation, which supports underprivileged young people, has pledged over £ 16 million to good causes through more than 200 charities and is a longtime supporter of both the Prince’s Trust and the Duke of Edinburgh Prize. “
Deputy Labor Leader Angela Rayner said: “After months of revelations about cronyism at the heart of this government, it is somehow fitting that the prime minister has decided to end the year with nobility for Peter Cruddas. It has never been clearer: there is one rule for conservatives and their friends, another for the rest of the country.
The appointment came just 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 that she had had behavior that could be seen as bullying. Instead, Allan resigned.
Earlier this year, Johnson was also charged with cronyism when he defended his then-senior adviser, Dominic Cummings, after Cummings removed his family from London in what was deemed a violation of lockdown rules.
In a critical response to the announcement, Norman Fowler, the Lord Speaker, said Johnson had created 52 new pairs this year, bringing the total size of the Lords to more than 830, despite a cross-party agreement three years ago that the numbers should exceed. the time is shortened to 600. Fowler suggested that this “massive U-turn” would anger the public.
The other six new Conservative colleagues are: former MP and Minister Sir Richard Benyon; former MEPs Daniel Hannan, Syed Kamall and Dame Jacqueline Foster; Stephanie Fraser, CEO of Cerebral Palsy Scotland, and Dean Godson, director of the Policy Exchange think tank.
Hannan and Godson are former colleagues of Johnson from the Daily Telegraph. When they arrive at The Lords they will be joined by Charles Moore, the newspaper’s former editor, and Veronica Wadley, a former Telegraph executive, who also became peers earlier this year.
The five new Labor partners are: former MPs Jennifer Chapman (now Keir Starmer’s political secretary), Gillian Merron (now executive director of the British Jewish Board of Deputies) and Vernon Coaker; former MEP Wajid Khan, and Judith Blake, Leeds city council leader.
And the four new fellow Crusaders are: the Rt Rev. John Sentamu, former Archbishop of York; Sir Simon McDonald, former director of the Foreign Office; Sir Terence Etherton, reelmaster, and Sir Andrew Parker, former head of MI5.
