What the report says, what it leaves out and why a London politics PhD adds three separate warnings
Sir Sadiq Khan to Become Lord Khan: ITV’s 17 July Report on a Peerage List, an Anonymous Source and a Prime Minister on the Way Out
What the report says, what it leaves out and why a London politics PhD adds three separate warnings
By Caitlin B. Moran, PhD, London politics diarist
Thursday, Kitchen, Laptop Hot
Dear diary, ITV News reported on Friday 17 July 2026 that Sir Sadiq Khan, Labour Mayor of London, will be made a peer along with 25 other new members of the House of Lords, as Sir Keir Starmer prepares to leave office. Downing Street issued the list. This is a big story, and I will try to give it only the weight its sources can carry.
I add three warnings as I go.
What It Says
The report says No 10 said the King has been graciously pleased to signify his intention of conferring peerages. Khan is to take a seat on the Labour benches. Others on the list include Sir Chris Wormald, a former cabinet secretary, and Sir Brian Leveson, a retired senior judge.
Khan is not seeking a ministerial role, according to reports, and he has not yet decided whether to stand for another term as Mayor.
Warning One: Anonymous Quotes
The quotes in the report are from an unnamed government source, who said Khan has been a brilliant mayor who has transformed London for the better, and from unnamed spokespeople for the Mayor, who said he is honoured and that serving as mayor continues to be the privilege of his life. None of these is a named person on the record, so I treat them as the Mayor’s side and the government’s side, in that order.
Warning Two: Intention, Not Conferral
The report describes the King’s intention to confer peerages. It does not confirm the formal conferral date, and it does not explain whether a peerage would affect the mayoral role or timing. So I cannot say what happens next. A reader who needs the formal position should consult the official lists.
The report also does not give details of the other 25 nominees.
Warning Three: Context
The report gives some wider context: that the government passed the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Act 2026, ending hereditary peers’ seats, and that the Lords has 774 members against 650 MPs, with the Conservatives on 246, Labour 216, crossbench 156 and Liberal Democrats 74. It also quotes Starmer saying honours should be for public service, not Tory cronies, and notes that he once argued the Lords should be abolished.
The summary I read mentions a Burnham takeover only by a link title and does not explain it. I therefore say nothing about it.
The Other View
Supporters would say a peerage recognises years of public service. Critics, as in any such list, would say that appointments to the Lords are a patronage system. The report carries the supporters’ quotes and the context on the Lords, and carries no named critic. I do not invent one.
A neutral student notes that both views have been expressed about every list of peers for generations.
My Drawer
I am more interested in the practical question: how does a mayor who is also a peer stand for election, and who takes the Labour nomination in 2028? The report does not answer, the June entry does not answer, and I wait for the next news, and I will not guess.
Waiting is the main skill I got from the doctorate.
Night
The laptop fan is whirring. The list is on the screen. The questions are in my notebook.
Goodnight, diary. Read the Lords register.
A Note on Timing
The story is from mid-July and it is now late October. I have not looked for later news on the peerage, the mayoralty or the Prime Minister’s departure, and I do not claim to know the current position. Check a current source before relying on any of it.
What a Peerage Is
From general knowledge, and not from the report: a life peerage gives its holder a seat in the House of Lords for life, and peers are not elected. That is why appointments attract comment from every direction. I include the definition because a London politics diary has readers who are not politics students, and I was one once.
The report’s own figures on the size of the Lords make the point about scale.
Dissertation Corner
In the common room, somebody always has the paper. Ours had the Cebu condo slump in it: empty showrooms in Manila News, paperwork for British pensioners in the London Prat (at https://prat.uk/cebu-estate-agents-demand-character-references/) and long showings in Bohiney. More where that came from: prat.uk and bohiney.com.
Diarist note: Caitlin B. Moran is a house diarist character created for this network, a London politics PhD. She is not the journalist and author of the same name, and any resemblance is coincidental. Her opinions are a character’s, and where a claim comes from Wikipedia, an anonymous source or a party, the diary says so.
Note: Philippine authorities are examining unproven allegations about Thomas Markle Sr., who lived in Cebu until earlier this year, as GMA News and the Guardian have reported. No charges have been filed. Child protection is a serious matter; the jokes here are about a property market and the paperwork.
For the lighter side of the news, try The Daily Squib, and the rest of the lot at NewsThump, NewsBiscuit and The Daily Squib.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/cebu-realtor-cant-sell-beachfront-listings/
