The Westminster WhatsApps are ablaze this morning with the age old question: who is up and who is down? With Liz Truss’s coronation expected just before lunchtime, attention has turned to the identity of her new cabinet. The dynamics and timing of the contest have meant the last few weeks of this election has become something of a protracted transition, with half the top jobs already divvied up.
But one role over which there are question marks is the leadership of the House of Lords. In recent years, relations between the Upper House and No. 10 have deteriorated somewhat, in light of rows over Brexit and parliamentary procedure. For six years, Natalie Evans has been the government’s great survivor, presiding over peers as Leader of the House of Lords. But now media reports suggest she will shortly be leaving the post, prompting an ensuing bunfight over who gets to replace her.
One wildcard choice could be Michael Forsyth, whose last government post was in 1997. But while Forsyth is popular among colleagues – having been elected last year as chairman of the Association of Conservative peers – a quarter of a century between two ministerial jobs would surely be a contender for the longest ever gap. Instead, Tim Shipman, the Sunday Times writer and doyen of the lobby, tips former business minister Gerry Grimstone for the post.
Such a pick would be, er, somewhat unorthodox given Grimstone’s unabashed Sinophilia. The businessman praised the Chinese dictatorship for its ‘strong authoritarian guidance’ and said the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong were ‘utterly unacceptable.’ Truss has made a virtue of her hawkishness on China and suggested she will be much tougher on Beijing than Boris Johnson. So it seems strange to bring back a Johnson ally whose most memorable contribution in the Upper House was back in 2020 when human rights’ lawyer Helena Kennedy humiliated him at the despatch box.
Appointing a peer who praised Xi Jinping as your envoy to the Lords? A very courageous decision Prime Minister, as Sir Humphrey might say.
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