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Ben Houchen handed spot in House of Lords in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list
Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen has been handed peerage in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list.
It comes as former housing secretary Simon Clarke, MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, is put forward for a knighthood. Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list has been released on Friday, with the former prime minister nominating close allies for peerages and other gongs.
Mr Johnson handed peerages to former London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey and Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen. Mr Houchen has called this an “incredible opportunity” and says it will put him in a unique position as an elected mayor with a seat in parliament.
READ MORE: Investigation launched into Teesworks fire after worker ‘seriously injured’ during demolition work
But the announcement has been met with backlash from Labour MP Andy McDonald who has called the latest appointment “about as arrogant as it gets”.
In a statement, Mr Houchen said: “As a member of the House of Lords, I will be uniquely placed as being an elected mayor with a seat in Parliament. The additional powers I will be given to make and amend laws are something no other mayor in the country will have.
“I see this role not as a distraction, but as an incredible opportunity to fight and deliver even more for everyone across Teesside, Darlington, and Hartlepool. Despite what some like to say, Levelling Up is alive across the Tees Valley.
“We are now leading the way in UK Clean Growth and Net Zero technology, providing well paid jobs and developing energy security for the whole country from the Teesworks site. We have the Treasury in Darlington. We have a Prime Minister who lives just down the road who is committed to the North and my Levelling Up Agenda.
“We have our own international airport. And now I am being given the opportunity to sit amongst our law makers to talk up Teesside, and make sure we always get our fair slice of the cake.
“I also want to take this opportunity to reaffirm my commitment to my job as mayor. I have had the honour of representing my home for the past six years and I feel an enormous responsibility to deliver for this area and I will continue to do this for years to come as Tees Valley Mayor.
“Today is recognition of Teesside, Darlington, and Hartlepool and shows that we matter on the national stage.”
But Labour’s Mr McDonald, MP for Middlesbrough, is among the first to respond to the announcement. He said: “This latest appointment from a discredited and dishonourable Prime Minister, is about as arrogant as it gets. But it’s in the Tories DNA.
“They just don’t care how offensive this is. They’re in charge and they are going to do what they like.
“They’re essentially putting two fingers up to the people of Teesside. But at some point, the conveyor belt of the Tories putting their unelected chums and their donors into our second chamber has to be brought to a shuddering halt. That day can’t come soon enough.”
Honours list
Amongst the long-awaited resignation honours, staunch loyalists Jacob Rees-Mogg and Priti Patel have been given a knighthood and a damehood respectively.
Benjamin Gascoigne, a former deputy chief of staff to the ex-prime minister will enter the House of Lords alongside Ross Kempsell, a former political director of the Conservative Party. Charlotte Owen, a former adviser to Mr Johnson, will become one of the youngest peers, while Kulveer Singh Ranger, a former director of transport while Boris Johnson was London mayor, will also be elevated to the Lords. Former No 10 chief of staff Dan Rosenfield will also enter the upper chamber.
Those put forward for a knighthood include former business secretary Mr Rees-Mogg, former housing secretary Simon Clarke and MPs Conor Burns and Michael Fabricant. Former co-chairman of the Conservative Party Ben Elliot and William Lewis, a political adviser to Mr Johnson, are also in line to become knights bachelors.
Former home secretary Ms Patel has been nominated for a damehood, along with former ministers Andrea Jenkyns and Amanda Milling.
The former head of operations at No 10, Shelley Williams-Walker, will also receive a damehood, along with Mr Johnson’s former personal assistant, Ann Sindall.
Notably absent from the list were former culture secretary Nadine Dorries and Sir Alok Sharma, president of the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow, following reports the Government cut them at the 11th hour to swerve potentially damaging by-elections in their seats.
But Downing Street sought to distance Rishi Sunak from the list.
“He had no involvement or input into the approved list,” the Prime Minister’s press secretary said. Ms Dorries earlier announced she was standing down as an MP “with immediate effect”, triggering an early election battle in her Mid Bedfordshire constituency.
Lord Newby, leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, called Mr Johnson’s resignation honours list a “clear failure of leadership” from the Prime Minister.
“Boris Johnson caused crisis after crisis in this country. His lack of honour means he didn’t deserve an honours list in the first place.
“Yet Sunak has caved in, rewarding Johnson for his reckless behaviour as prime minister. The British public will be outraged at this out of touch decision.
“Rishi Sunak needs to come before Parliament immediately to justify his cowardly failure to block Boris Johnson’s Honours list.”
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