Boris Johnson has been accused of cronyism after he gave a peerage to a former Conservative party co-treasurer in defiance of advice from the Lords Appointments Commission.
Peter Cruddas, a businessman, philanthropist and Tory donor, was one of 16 people on a list of newly-created political peerages – seven Conservative, five Labour, and four cross-bench.
In a highly unusual move, Downing Street published the list alongside an open letter from Johnson to Lord Bew, chair of the House of Lords commission, explaining why he was putting Cruddas in the upper house without its approval.
Cruddas was forced to resign as Conservative co-treasurer in 2012 after the Sunday Times claimed that he was offering access to the prime minister for up to £250,000. A year later Cruddas won £180,000 in damages in a libel action, although that was subsequently reduced to £50,000 after aspects of the original allegations were upheld when the paper appealed.
Announcing the full list of new political peers, Downing Street said: “The Lord Appointments Commission has completed its vetting in respect of all nominees. The commission advised the prime minister that it could not support one nominee – Peter Cruddas.
“The prime minister has considered the commission’s advice and wider factors and concluded that, exceptionally, the nomination should proceed.”
In his letter to Bew defending his decision, Johnson said that the allegations against Cruddas were from eight years ago and that there has been no other “matters of concern” before or since.
The PM said “the most serious accusations levelled at the time were found to be untrue and libellous” and that an internal Conservative party investigation “found there had been no intentional wrongdoing”.
Johnson went on: “Mr Cruddas has made outstanding contributions in the charitable sector and in business and has continued his long track record of committed political service. His charitable foundation, which supports disadvantaged young people, has pledged over £16m to good causes through over 200 charities and he is a long-standing supporter of both the Prince’s Trust and the Duke of Edinburgh award.”
Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, said: “After months of revelations about the cronyism at the heart of this government, it’s somehow appropriate the prime minister has chosen to end the year with a peerage to Peter Cruddas. It’s never been more clear: there is one rule for the Conservatives and their chums, another for the rest of the country.”
The appointment came only 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 she had engaged in behaviour that could be seen as bullying. Allan himself resigned instead.
Earlier in the year Johnson was also accused of cronyism when he defended his then chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, after Cummings took his family out of London in what was widely seen as a break of lockdown rules.
The other six new Tory peers are: former MP and minister Sir Richard Benyon; former MEPs Daniel Hannan, Syed Kamall and Dame Jacqueline Foster; Stephanie Fraser, chief executive of Cerebral Palsy Scotland; and Dean Godson, director of the Policy Exchange thinktank.
Hannan and Godson are former colleagues of Johnson’s from the the Daily Telegraph. When they arrive in the Lords they will join Charles Moore, the paper’s former editor, and Veronica Wadley, a former Telegraph executive, who were also made peers earlier this year.