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THE GOVERNMENT faced fresh criticism today after appointing several pro-Israel hardliners to the House of Lords.
Mike Katz, Luciana Berger, David Evans, Steve McCabe and Phil Wilson – who helped undermine left-wing former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn with anti-semitism allegations – are among 30 new Labour peers.
The appointees mostly comprise a string of ex-MPs and Sir Keir Starmer loyalists, including his former chief of staff Sue Gray.
A Jewish Voice for Labour spokesperson told the Star: “Mike Katz is one of several new peers rewarded for damaging the Labour Party we at JVL supported.
“These rewards [come] from a government keener on destroying that party than addressing the crises of poverty, oppression, war crimes and racism.”
Basem Farajallah, of the UK Gaza Community group, said the appointment of Mr Katz showed Labour is “still the same as the Conservatives … ignoring the mass support for the Palestinian cause” in Britain.
He said: “We know Katz’s position towards the Palestinians … we feel neglected, we feel the bias by this government against Palestinian people.
“I hope other peers will be more neutral in dealing with this conflict.
“The question is what is Sir Keir Starmer trying to prove to the millions on the streets” (in solidarity with Palestine).
Electoral Reform Society chief executive Darren Hughes said: “At around 800 members the House of Lords is already ludicrously bloated and the second largest legislative chamber in the world after China’s National People’s Congress.
“Even before these latest 38 new appointments, the last three previous prime ministers alone had created over 140 new peers.
“This not a sustainable nor defensible way to constitute the upper house of Parliament.”
Scottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvie said: “The House of Lords is an archaic, anti-democratic and farcical relic of an institution, and it should have been scrapped long ago.
“It is simply staggering that we are in the 21st century and are still using a system that allows the government to appoint cronies, donors and friends into positions of immense power and privilege for life, and we have no way of removing them.”
The Conservatives appointed six new peers, including former deputy prime minister Therese Coffey and Toby Young, associate editor of The Spectator.
The Lib Dems have appointed two.
