Chair of Stop the War Coalition and ex-Unite boss in line for Labour peerages
2 min read
The chair of the Stop the War Coalition and a former boss of the Unite union are in line to become Labour peers, it has emerged.
Jeremy Corbyn and his advisers have discussed the possibility of putting Murad Quereshi and Tony Woodley in the House of Lords, the Huffington Post reported.
Black community activist Martha Osamor, mother of Shadow International Development Secretary Kate Osamor, has also been considered for inclusion in the Labour leader's list of new peerages.
A formal announcement by the House of Lords Appointments Commission, which is also considering nominations from other parties, is expected next week.
Mr Qureshi, a former Labour member of the London Assembly, succeeded Andrew Murray as chair of the Stop the War Coalition in 2016. Mr Corbyn himself was chair of the organisation, which has been accused of being anti-West and of failing to criticise Russian aggression, between 2011 and 2015.
Left-wing firebrand Mr Woodley, who turned 70 on 2 January, was general secretary of the TGWU from 2004 until 2007. He became joint-boss of Unite when the union merged with Amicus that year.
Mr Woodley stepped down four years later, but was head of organising for Unite until 2013, and is still a paid consultant to the union.
He hit the headlines in 2009 when he ripped up a copy of The Sun on stage at the Labour conference in Brighton after the paper ditched its support for the party.
Sources close to Mr Corbyn refused to confirm whether any of those discussed had made it onto the final list of two or three nominations he had put forward for peerages.
The Labour leader was criticised for nominating Shami Chakrabarti for a peerage in 2016, shortly after she had carried out an inquiry into allegations of anti-Semitism in the party.
During his first leadership campaign in 2015, Mr Corbyn told Channel 4 News he saw "no case" for appointing new peers.
Reacting to the news that the Labour leader was to nominate more new peers, SNP MP Tommy Sheppard said: "So much for the 'straight-talking, honest politics' Jeremy Corbyn promised. Many of his supporters will be left feeling very disappointed - and not for the first time, after his fudge on Brexit.
"The House of Lords is completely archaic and has no place in a modern democracy. It's deeply unfortunate that Jeremy Corbyn isn't willing to stand by his principles."
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
