House of Lords: Outcry as donors, fixers and MPs caught up in expenses scandal get peerages...

Disgraced MPs who cheated on their expenses, a multimillionaire Tory donor, a group of back-room political fixers and an alcohol industry lobbyist have been ennobled by David Cameron, sparking renewed calls for root-and-branch reform of the House of Lords.

The 26 new Tory peers, along with 11 new Liberal Democrats and eight new Labour Lords, will take the membership of the Upper House to more than 800 – making it the second-largest legislative assembly in the world after the National People’s Congress of China.

The new members will cost the taxpayer up to £13,500 a day in expenses when the Lords is sitting. Of the 45 new peers, over 90 per cent were previously MPs, MEPs, councillors, former political staff or party figures.

Among the largest group are ex-MPs – 24 in total – almost half of whom had to repay, between them, some £55,000 in overpaid or unjustified expenses. They include Douglas Hogg who indirectly billed the taxpayer for the cost of cleaning his moat and tuning his piano at his country house. Full story...

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