Political patronage: Leaders criticised over peerages

Car importer Bob Edmiston and curry tycoon Sir Gulam Noon were among 54 new working peers selected for the House of Lords, Downing Street announced yesterday.

The pair were questioned under caution during the 2007 police investigation into whether loans were made in return for the promise of an honour.

Mr Edmiston converted a 2m loan to the Tories into a donation, and Sir Gulam gave more than 200,000 and lent 250,000 to Labour. No charges were brought in the case.

Other party donors to be rewarded with seats in the House of Lords include Conservative co-treasurer Stanley Fink and Tory fundraiser Andrew Feldman.

Scottish National MP Angus MacNeil, whose complaint to police sparked the cash-for-honours inquiry, said: "David Cameron should be mindful of the mess Tony Blair found himself in over the appointment of party donors to the Lords. There should be no link between donations and peerages, but we again have big donors being elevated to the Lords.

"This is supposed to be a democracy, but the UK Parliament now has more unelected peers than it has elected MPs – another reason Scotland would be better off with independence."

Film director and screenwriter Julian Fellowes, the creator of hit ITV period drama Downton Abbey, is to be made a Conservative peer.

He will be joined on the Tory benches by former BBC chairman Michael Grade, former BMI airline owner Sir Michael Bishop and divorce lawyer Fiona Shackleton, whose clients have included Sir Paul McCartney and the Prince of Wales.

Former Conservative MPs to be elevated to the Lords include Howard Flight, who was forced to resign as the party's deputy chairman after being taped before the 2005 general election suggesting it had secret plans to cut spending.

The other Tory ex-MPs are Richard Spring, former chief whip David Maclean and Sir Michael Lord, who was a deputy speaker of the Commons.

Former Army chief General Sir Richard Dannatt is to take a place in the Lords as a crossbencher, despite being nominated by David Cameron when he was leader of the Opposition.

Additions to the Labour benches include Dame Joan Bakewell, the former TV presenter and journalist once described as "the thinking man's crumpet".

She will be joined by Stewart Wood, a former adviser to Gordon Brown, as well as the party's general secretary Ray Collins and former MP Oona King.

Liberal Democrat appointments to the Lords include John Sharkey, who chaired the party's general election campaign this year, and former MP Susan Kramer, who lost her seat in May.

Mr Cameron's spokesman said: "There is an established process on appointing peers, and that is that they are vetted through the House of Lords Appointments Commission, and there is an established process on donations, which is that they have to be declared to the Electoral Commission."

Mr Miliband said the new appointments to his party's benches were chosen "for their experience across a broad range of fields".

But Peter Facey, director of pressure group Unlock Democracy, said ministers wanting to reward their friends should buy them a gold watch instead, and added: "People who make and amend our laws should be elected by the public, not selected for good deeds done in the past by grateful politicians."