This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk_politics/8711821.stm
The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Version 0 | Version 1 |
---|---|
John Prescott is given a peerage | John Prescott is given a peerage |
(30 minutes later) | |
Former deputy prime minister John Prescott has been made a peer in the Dissolution Honours List. | Former deputy prime minister John Prescott has been made a peer in the Dissolution Honours List. |
Mr Prescott, 71, who stepped down as an MP at the general election, was Tony Blair's deputy for ten years. | Mr Prescott, 71, who stepped down as an MP at the general election, was Tony Blair's deputy for ten years. |
Former Northern Ireland first minister Ian Paisley, former Tory leader Michael Howard and Gordon Brown's long-serving aide Sue Nye were also given peerages. | Former Northern Ireland first minister Ian Paisley, former Tory leader Michael Howard and Gordon Brown's long-serving aide Sue Nye were also given peerages. |
Dissolution Honours Lists are made at the end of every Parliament and allow outgoing PMs to reward colleagues. | Dissolution Honours Lists are made at the end of every Parliament and allow outgoing PMs to reward colleagues. |
They also allow the new prime minister to appoint working peers. | They also allow the new prime minister to appoint working peers. |
Among other notable names on the list are former Labour ministers John Reid, Des Browne, John Hutton and Quentin Davies - the former Tory MP who defected to Labour. | Among other notable names on the list are former Labour ministers John Reid, Des Browne, John Hutton and Quentin Davies - the former Tory MP who defected to Labour. |
Other Conservatives include the former chairman of the party's influential 1922 Committee Sir Michael Spicer and, on the working peers list, Next's chief executive Simon Wolfson and anti-social behaviour campaigner Helen Newlove. | |
New Liberal Democrat peers include former MPs Richard Allan, Matthew Taylor and Phil Willis, former children's TV presenter Floella Benjamin and former Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Ken MacDonald. | |
The Queen has also conferred a life peerage on former Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Ian Blair. | The Queen has also conferred a life peerage on former Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Ian Blair. |
Mr Prescott, who stepped down as an MP after 37 years at the general election, is known for his plain speaking and combative approach to politics - he famously punched a man who hurled an egg at him during the 2001 general election campaign. | |
He ran unsuccessfully for the Labour leadership in 1994, but then threw his weight behind the man who beat him, Tony Blair, going on to play a leading role at the heart of Mr Blair's cabinet after the party's 1997 election victory. | |
He was rewarded with a specially-created "super department" spanning transport, planning, the regions and the environment, leading the UK delegation at the Kyoto climate change negotiations and campaigning for regional devolution. | |
His lowest moment came when his affair with his diary secretary Tracey Temple was exposed by a tabloid newspaper, prompting a public apology by the Hull East MP at that year's Labour Party conference. | |
He remains a popular figure among Labour's grassroots, proud of his working class roots. | |
Sue Nye found herself in the spotlight during the election campaign when Gordon Brown appeared to blame her for his encounter with Gillian Duffy - the Rochdale pensioner he was recorded privately calling "bigoted". | |
Mr Brown, who forgot to remove a microphone, was overheard saying: "I don't know why Sue brought her up towards me." |