Keir Starmer is set to team up with former chief of staff Sue Gray

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Sir Keir Starmer plans to reward his former chief of staff Sue Gray, as well as MPs who left the safe seats of Labor before the UK general election and prepare for a new party.

Labor officials say Starmer’s “political” list of party colleagues is long and could include Gray, who resigned in October after criticizing his actions and during the conflict between the government.

Gray was a senior civil servant who left Whitehall to join Starmer’s party in opposition. He was replaced as the new Prime Minister’s chief of staff by Morgan McSweeney just three months later.

Several party figures said the list also featured former Labor MPs who resigned before the July 4 general election, helping party bosses to replace their favourites.

He said they included former MP Lyn Brown, Kevin Brennan and Julie Elliott. Thangam Debbonaire, who was in Starmer’s shadow cabinet but lost his Bristol West seat to the Green Party at the election, was also there, he said.

Number 10 declined to comment.

One Labor official defended the practice of giving peers to party activists who were “proven to be working in parliament” rather than scientists or business leaders.

They say that outsiders don’t have a good reputation because they often don’t understand the work found in the Lord’s house.

“I can’t see this as a kind of payment. We like to give it to former MPs and party workers and workers in this organization because they understand the work involved,” said the person.

The Prime Minister has already promoted former MPs who resigned this year: former Labor party chairman Lord John Cryer, plus former New Labor-era defense ministers Lord John Spellar and Kevan Jones, who go with the title. Lord Beamish.

Starmer is expelling 92 peers to try to reduce the size of the Lords, which he described as “overwhelming” with more than 800 members.

The government must try to justify making more peers by saying that Labor has only a small share in the upper house compared to the majority of the elected in the House of Commons.

Labor has just 187 peers against 273 Tories, 78 Liberal Democrats and 184 cross-benchers, who are not affiliated to any party.

Former Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had not yet given a list of those who wanted to resign, government officials said.

Former UK officials are often lucky enough to have a final list of dignitaries after they leave office. The officials warned that unless Sunak submits his list immediately, it is unlikely that his fellow candidates will be seen in time for the announcement later this year.

Tory party figures believe former cabinet ministers Michael Gove, Simon Hart and Alister Jack will be on Sunak’s list, along with party chief Stephen Massey. Gove and Jack declined to comment. Hart said he was not aware of the proposal. Massey did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Some in the Tory party believe that Sunak is planning to abandon the tradition of raising major party donors, which could lead to more corruption.

The possibility has raised fears among Tory figures that it could have a negative impact on future donations, at a time when the Conservatives are on a tight budget.

A friend of Sunak said: “There has been a lot of speculation, most of it wrong. But we do not have to comment on this matter. “

Sunak had already elevated their former chief Liam Booth-Smith to the Lords in a list of honors that marked the end of the last parliament in July.

Discussions are underway in the government about Starmer going ahead and publishing the latest list of Labor nominees along with the new year’s honors list, which the government says will “recognise the achievements and work of extraordinary people in the UK”.

While there is precedent for issuing lists at the same time, including last December when Liz Truss’s resignation list and honors list were published at the same time, some government figures worried it would upset Buckingham Palace. All honor is given in the name of the King.

Government officials say the Liberal Democrats are expected to be given a number of nominations, after winning a majority of MPs in the general election. The party received one nomination in a standing ovation in July, its first in almost a decade.