Boris Johnson is seeking to hand peerages to four Tory MPs in his resignation list, even as a cabinet minister admits the House of Lords is bloated and “undemocratic”.
Alok Sharma, the outgoing Cop26 president, is among about 20 nominees, alongside the Scotland secretary Alister Jack and ex-ministers Nadine Dorries and Nigel Adams, it is believed.
The move will spark accusations that both Mr Sharma (who has a majority of little over 4,000 votes in Reading West) and Mr Jack (under 2,000 in Dumfries and Galloway) are fleeing likely general election defeat.
Two very young Johnson aides, 30-year-old Ross Kempsell, and Charlotte Owen, in her late twenties, have also been nominated, The Times said, in a report not disputed by sources close to Mr Johnson.
It has also been told that the former prime minister is making a fresh attempt to send Paul Dacre, the former Daily Mail editor, to the Lords – despite the appointments commission blocking a previous request.
But Mel Stride, the former work and pensions secretary, admitted the upper chamber badly needs reform, as a cross-party agreement to bring down its size is flouted.
He called it “an undemocratic body”, saying: “There are few in the House of Commons who wouldn’t say that there should be change.”
Mr Stride told Times Radio: “Does the House of Lords need reform? I think absolutely. And not least on the point you’re making, its size, which has now grown to I think over 800 members, is larger than the Chinese Communist Party central committee.
“So I do think there is scope for change, but it is one of those things that has been very difficult to get political consensus on.”
Mr Johnson has already created 13 Tory peers in a political honours list last month, including party donor Michael Hintze and the former MPs Nicholas Soames and Hugo Swire.
If the 20-strong resignation list is successful, he will have appointed more than twice as many peerages as David Cameron and Theresa May in their outgoing lists.
Last month, it emerged that Lord Bew, chairman of the Lords appointments commission, had written to Liz Truss and Keir Starmer to criticise the nominees it is being sent.
Mr Johnson is expected to argue the MPs he has put forward can delay taking up their peerages – to avoid triggering by-elections – but this is without constitutional precedent.
Dan Rosenfield, the former Downing Street chief of staff, and Ben Gascoigne, a former deputy chief of staff, are also on the list, The Times reported.
The expected nomination of Shaun Bailey, the former Tory mayoral candidate who was photographed breaking Covid rules at a party, would also be controversial.
The list is also believed to includes David Ross, the multimillionaire Tory donor and Carphone Warehouse co-founder.
