Today we begin publishing another tranche of nominations in our series highlighting people David Cameron should consider appointing to the House of Lords, since any Conservative administration formed after the general election would be able to call upon the support of the lowest number of Conservative peers in history.
If you would like to nominate someone, please email Jonathan Isaby with your suggestion, including key arguments for the nomination as well as biographical information. The sources of nominations will be treated confidentially where requested.
No. 52: Michael Howard
Jonathan Isaby writes:
"Whilst I would expect former party leaders departing the Commons to be awarded a peerage automatically on leaving the Commons, it is nonetheless worth making the case for the ennoblement of Michael Howard.
"He has given decades of service to the party and the country, holding ministerial office under both Thatcher and Major, serving in Cabinet as Employment Secretary, Environment Secretary and finally Home Secretary. Moreover, he took the helm of the party at a difficult time in 2003 and steered it through a general election where it made its first electoral advances in a generation.
"It can also be said that he acted as midwife at the birth of David Cameron's Conservatives, having been the one to promote both David Cameron and George Osborne (and also the now Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling) to the Shadow Cabinet. He continues to work hard in the party's interest: I noted last July, for example, that without any fanfare he joined the hundreds of activists delivering leaflets in the Norwich North by-election.
"Taking all that, along with his legal experience (he is of course a QC), I can only conclude that he would be a worthy addition to the Conservative benches in the Lords - and from there he could yet be called by David Cameron to serve in government again."