Downing Street hits back in peerages row

Talk about the end of the peer show. Boris Johnson’s allies have spent the past two days spitting blood and crying betrayal, accusing Rishi Sunak of ‘deceit’ over the alleged removal of several nominees from the honours list. But tonight No. 10 has hit back, telling the Sunday Times that such claims are ‘categorically untrue’ and suggesting that Johnson misunderstood the process of awarding peerages.

And in a bid to ward off such criticisms, Downing Street has tonight taken the step of publishing the list of names that were approved by the House of Lords Appointments Commission (Holac). These were the seven names that were announced on Friday – Shaun Bailey, Ben Gascoigne, Ben Houchen, Ross Kempsell, Charlotte Owen, Kulveer Ranger and Dan Rosenfield – plus a mystery eighth name that has been blanked out on the government website. The surname of the missing name begins with the letter ‘r’: all guesses welcome as to who that could be.