Keir Starmer Makes London Mayor Sadiq Khan A Peer

Keir Starmer has made London mayor Sadiq Khan a peer days before leaving office.

The prime minister bestowed the honour on the well-known Labour politician and former Tooting MP, meaning Khan can now sit in the House of Lords.

He has been the mayor of the capital city since 2016 and is on track to win a fourth term, according to a recent Savanta UK survey, though he has not confirmed if he is running again in 2028.

Starmer’s move comes amid reports that his successor Andy Burnham – the mayor of Greater Manchester until last month – wants to put all metropolitan mayors in the Lords.

Burnham has previously welcomed the idea of turning the second chamber into a “senate of regions and nations”.

Khan is one of 26 names nominated for a peerage in Starmer’s list, including former cabinet secretary and head of the civil service Sir Chris Wormald – who was sacked in February.

This has not been described as a resignation honours list even though the prime minister is set to stand down on Monday.

Starmer vowed three years ago that he would not hand out resignation honours if he were to get into No.10, and criticised Rishi Sunak for allowing Boris Johnson to hand out awards to his political allies while departing office.

Speaking as opposition leader in 2023, he said: “No. There are other opportunities… Tony Blair didn’t have a resignation list. It’s very hard to justify… there are other avenues for that and I think it’s easier to be clear about this and simply say, no, I wouldn’t do that.”

However, at the Nato summit in Ankara last week, Starmer dodged reporters’ questions about whrther or not he would produce an honours list.

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