Boris Johnson asked me to overrule peer vetting, says Rishi Sunak

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has accused former PM Boris Johnson of pressuring him to “overrule” the House of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC), a panel responsible for reviewing his nominations to the House of Lords. 

According to the HOLAC, it rejected eight of Johnson’s recommendations.

Sunak revealed that Johnson had asked him to intervene and overturn the rejections or alternatively, to make promises to the individuals affected.

But during a tech conference in London, Sunak expressed his stance, saying, “I wasn’t prepared to do that, I didn’t think that was right. And if people don’t like that, then tough.”

On Friday, Johnson announced his resignation as an MP following a report by the Privileges Committee, which investigated whether Johnson misled parliament over lockdown gatherings – known as Partygate. 

Shortly after Johnson’s resignation, Downing Street released Johnson’s resignation honours list – which didn’t feature many of Johnson’s key supporters such as Nadine Dorries, Sir Alok Sharma, and Nigel Adams. They had expected to be appointed to the House of Lords.

There have been conflicting accounts as to why these names were omitted from Johnson’s list.