Sunak’s chief of staff and Theresa May among Tory peerages in dissolution honours

Rishi Sunak’s chief of staff has been given a life peerage in the dissolution honours along with the former prime minister Theresa May, the former transport secretary Chris Grayling and the former chair of the 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady.

Liam Booth-Smith, who was one of Sunak’s closest allies in government having previously worked for Boris Johnson, will be elevated to the House of Lords along with six other Conservatives.

Booth-Smith ran Sunak’s unsuccessful leadership campaign having previously been his chief of staff during his time at the Treasury, heading the joint economic unit.

Booth-Smith was recently among those interviewed as a witness by the Gambling Commission in its investigation into bets placed on the election date, though he is not among those believed to have placed bets.

Others nominated by Sunak include the former deputy speaker Eleanor Laing, the former Cop26 chief Alok Sharma and the MP Craig Mackinlay, who become a quadruple amputee due to sepsis.

Keir Starmer has nominated eight retiring MPs for peerages, including a number who stood down as the election was called, including John Cryer, Barbara Keeley and John Spellar. The number of newly retiring MPs who will be elevated to the Lords by Labour means that the party has nominated more new peers than the prime minister.

Other key Labour figures who will go to the Lords include the former foreign secretary Margaret Beckett, the former deputy leader Harriet Harman, former ministers Margaret Hodge and Kevan Jones and the former deputy speaker Rosie Winterton.

Two crossbench peers have been nominated, Dr Hilary Cass, the former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, who wrote a key report on gender identity services in the NHS, and Minette Batters, the former president of the National Farmers’ Union.

Sunak has also nominated a number of current and former cabinet ministers for honours. They include Thérèse Coffey, the former deputy prime minister, who is made a dame, and the current deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden, who is knighted along with the former Northern Ireland secretary Julian Smith and the former defence secretary Ben Wallace.

Also knighted is Alister Jack, the former Scottish secretary who recently admitted having placed a bet on the election timing – though he said it was done without inside knowledge and well before the election date was known internally, with no inquiry into him.

The Liberal Democrats nominated Caroline Pidgeon for a peerage, a long-time member of the London assembly and a former mayoral candidate.