Sir Keir Starmer is considering handing a peerage to Sue Gray after she snubbed his offer of becoming the PM’s ‘envoy to the regions and nations’.
According to reports in The Financial Times, Starmer is looking to elevate a number of prominent Labour figures into the upper chamber to balance it out in the wake of the Johnson and Sunak administrations.
Those in line for a peerage include Lyn Brown, Julie Elliott, Kevin Brennan and Thangam Debbonaire, the former shadow culture secretary who lost her Bristol seat to the Greens.
Sue Gray could also be one of those handed a place in the House of Lords as a consolation prize after she quit as Downing Street’s chief of staff amid infighting, briefings and turmoil.
While the FT initially said that Sue Gray had been on an early draft list of those set to appear on the New Years honours, government insiders had become unsure about whether she will make the final cut.
However in an update shortly after, they clarified that the former Chief of Staff is still in line for a peerage.
The LibDems will also get to appoint peers, after returning to the third largest party in the Commons.
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