Lords does not need ‘Putin apologists like Farage’, minister says

A Cabinet minister has dismissed Nigel Farage’s call for the Prime Minister to allow him to appoint peers to the Lords, saying Parliament will not benefit from more “Putin apologists”.

In a letter to Sir Keir Starmer, the Reform UK leader said that a “democratic disparity” in the upper chamber needed to be addressed.

Reform has four MPs and controls 10 councils in England.

Asked about the party leader’s demands, Defence Secretary John Healey said: “I’m not sure that Parliament’s going to benefit from more Putin apologists like Nigel Farage, to be honest.”

‘Absent’

Asked whether that accusation was “a bit strong”, Mr Healey told LBC: “Look at what he’s said about Russia, look at what he’s said about Putin in the past.

“At this point, when maximum pressure needs to be put on Putin to support Ukraine in negotiations, when the maximum condemnation of Putin is required from someone who is sitting down with Trump in Alaska but turning up the attacks on Ukraine, it needs all voices.

“And I have to say, the voice of Reform is conspicuously absent in any of our discussions and any of our defence debates about Ukraine and about Russia.”

The Cabinet minister urged Mr Farage, the MP for Clacton, to start “weighing in alongside us and the other parties in the House of Commons” in condemning the Russian President.

Lords reform

The Reform leader has previously called for Lords reform, writing in an article for the Telegraph in February that “a smaller chamber is needed”.

In his letter to the Prime Minister, first reported by the Times, Mr Farage said: “Reform UK wishes to appoint life peers to the upper house at the earliest possible opportunity.”

In what he described as a “modest request”, he said it was time that Reform was represented in the unelected second chamber.

“My party received over 4.1 million votes at the general election in July 2024. We have since won a large number of seats in local government, led in the national opinion polls for many months and won the only by-election of this parliament,” he said.

Political appointments to the Lords are made at the discretion of the Prime Minister, who is under no constitutional obligation to elevate opposition figures but will sometimes ask other leaders to nominate individuals.

In December, Sir Keir appointed 30 new Labour peers, including his former chief of staff Sue Gray – which Mr Farage said at the time showed the ruling party’s “lofty ambition” to abolish the Lords had “fallen by the wayside”.

The Conservatives appointed six new peers, while the Liberal Democrats appointed two.