Theresa May breaks with tradition to refuse George Osborne a peerage

Liz Bates

Theresa May has reportedly broken with fifty years of tradition to refuse George Osborne a seat in the House of Lords.



The decision means he will be the only former Chancellor in the last five decades not to be offered a peerage.

According to the Sun, Theresa May moved to keep her political rival off the nominations list despite it being conventional for senior Cabinet members to be offered the chance to join the upper chamber when they leave the Commons.

Friends of Mr Osborne told the newspaper he doesn’t want a peerage, and had “never asked” for one.

Relations between the pair have been strained since Mr Osborne was sacked as Chancellor by Mrs May in the wake of the Brexit vote.

He later stood down as an MP to become the Evening Standard editor, using the role to launch a series of attacks at the Prime Minister’s leadership.

He also told staff at the paper that he would not rest until his former boss was “chopped up in bags in my freezer”.

Responding to the peerage snub revelation, a Downing Street source said: “George Osborne did a great job as Chancellor clearing up the mess left by Labour.

“He chose to stand down at the election, and is much missed, but is clearly managing to fill his time in a number of other ways.”