Who has Boris Johnson nominated to join the House of Lords in his resignation honours list?

Seven people will join the House of Lords to sit as lifetime peers, after Boris Johnson submitted a list of resignation honours, which saw eight of his nominations rejected by the independent House of Lords Appointments Committee (Holac).

There had been reports that Johnson would put forward his father, Stanley Johnson, and a number of loyalist MPs including former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries.

Dorries, along with fellow sitting MPs Nigel Adams, Alok Sharma and Alister Jack, were submitted to receive life peerages but were rejected by Holac because they were outside the normal time limit of six months before a general election. This prompted Dorries and Adams to stand down as MPs with immediate effect, which will result in by-elections which could prove challenging for the Conservatives.

Allies of Johnson had accused the Prime Minister of blocking the peerages, prompting denials from Number 10. In his first comments since the list was published last week, Sunak said Johnson asked him to do something he “wasn’t prepared to do” when it came to approving the former Prime Minister’s resignation honours list.

In a note published by Downing Street, which shows the list of names signed off by Number 10 having passed vetting by Holac, an eighth name has been redacted. This is because an individual took the personal decision to withdraw themselves.

A spokesman for the independent commission said it considered the nominations put forward by Johnson “in line with its usual processes”.

“All nominations made by Mr Johnson were received and processed by Holac. Eight nominees were not supported by the commission”.

“The commission is advisory to the Prime Minister and is not involved in the appointment processes after providing advice. The commission does not comment on individual”.

Here is the list of people who will join the House of Lords.

Shaun Bailey

Shaun Bailey was the Conservative candidate for Mayor of London in 2021, eventually losing out to Sadiq Khan by a narrower margin than expected. The London Assembly member attracted controversy throughout the campaign, with comments he had previously made about Muslims, Hindus and Indian people criticised as offensive.

Following reports in December 2021 that Bailey had been at a gathering at Conservative Party headquarters a year earlier while coronavirus restrictions were in place, the councillor resigned as chair of two committees on the London Assembly. However, in November 2022, the police decided to take no action against Bailey or the other people in attendance at the gathering.

Ben Gascoigne

A longtime Johnson loyalist, Ben Gascoigne has worked closely with Johnson across a number of different roles. While Johnson was PM, Gascoigne served as his political secretary and was one of a cadre of deputy chiefs of staff in Number 10. He previously worked with Johnson during his time as London mayor and Foreign Secretary.

Ben Houchen

Ben Houchen is the current mayor of Tees Valley and will become the first member of the House of Lords to also serve as an elected mayor, in a uniquely powerful dual-role.

Houchen is seen as a poster boy for Johnson’s main political legacy, levelling up, and is closely associated with the project. He is currently the subject of significant scrutiny over a controversial development project in Teesside, Teesworks. Labour MPs and a number of media outlets have raised questions over an agreement which saw local businessmen with ties to the mayor given an allegedly favourable deal on acquiring potentially valuable land on the lucrative industrial development.

Ross Kempsell

Former journalist Ross Kempsell will become the second-youngest member of the House of Lords, at 31. He is a political director of the Conservative Party and heads up the party’s research department.

During Johnson’s campaign to become Tory leader in 2019, he gave an interview to Kempsell, then at Talk Radio, in which the former mayor infamously said he liked to paint model buses to relax.

Charlotte Owen

At 29, Charlotte Owen will become the youngest member of the House of Lords, having enjoyed a meteoric rise through the political ranks.

Owen most recently served as a Downing Street special adviser, first to Boris Johnson and then briefly to Liz Truss, having worked as Johnson’s senior parliamentary assistant since January 2020.

She came to Westminster in 2017 as an intern for Johnson and worked with two MPs close to the former PM, Alok Sharma and Jake Berry, before joining Johnson’s team once again.

Kulveer Ranger

Kulveer Ranger has worked with Johnson in a number of capacities and currently advises the government on digital strategy. He is a Conservative Party member and unsuccessfully applied to be the 2021 mayoral election candidate.

A board member of the influential industry association TechUK, Ranger was brought in to Boris Johnson’s mayoral team as Director of Transport Policy soon after the 2008 mayoral election and had a hand in developing the Oyster Card as well as campaigns to encourage cycling and the use of electric vehicles.

Daniel Rosenfield

Daniel Rosenfield was one of a number of Downing Street insiders who resigned as Johnson’s chief of staff in February last year in the wake of the Partygate scandal. Rosenfield was reported to have attended a lockdown Christmas Quiz in December 2020, although Downing Street denied this.

A former senior civil servant, working closely with George Osbourne at the Treasury during his tenure as chancellor, Rosenfield left government in 2011 to take up a senior role with Bank of America and later the strategic advisory firm Hakluyt & Company.

Rosenfield was reportedly involved in a meeting with Manchester United chief executive Ed Woodward in April 2021, during a period of intense debate about a proposal by a number of ‘elite’ football clubs in Europe about setting up a ‘Super League’.