Labour has ruled out immediately packing the House of Lords with dozens of peers if Keir Starmer wins the next general election.
The Labour leader has already scaled back on his previous pledges to abolish the Lords and replace it with a fully elected second chamber in his first term.
Angela Smith, Labour’s leader in the Lords, said on Monday the party would need to “refresh our numbers” since the Tories have more than 100 peers in the upper chamber than Labour. However, she dismissed the idea that Starmer would rush through the appointment of his own peers after an election win.
Smith told the House magazine: “The idea that Keir Starmer is on day one going to have a list of 100 people to put here is cloud cuckoo … If you look at the numbers at the moment, the Tories have over 100 more than us, and they still lose votes.
One of the many reasons I shouldn’t be Prime Minister is that I would definitely pack the Lords just for the lols. Make Gary Lineker a Duke and watch the right wing press implode. Grant Ru Paul citizenship and make her a baroness. Pardon every Just Stop Oil protestor and make them all earls.
Paradoxically, that would make you an average Tory prime minister in terms of competence.