WARRINGTON North MP Charlotte Nichols is urging local Conservatives to join her call for the Prime Minister to block former Brexit MEP Claire Fox taking up a peerage at the House of Lords.
Ms Nichols wrote to Lord Brew, Chair of the Lords Appointment committee seeking clarification on the controversail appointment which has caused upset in Warrington due to Ms Fox refusing to condemn the IRA bomb attack in 1993 which claimed the lives of 12-year-old Tim Parry and three-year-old Johnathan Ball.
Commenting on a response from Lord Bew, Ms Nichols said: “It is here, in black and white, from the Chair of the House of Lords Appointment Commission that if Claire Fox takes up her place in the Lords that it is because Boris Johnson signed it off.
“I have been very clear from the beginning that Boris Johnson can and must act to block her peerage. I hope Warrington Conservatives will stop trying to hide behind the process and dodge responsibility, and join me in making that demand on the Prime Minister.
“Whatever party you support, I think everyone in Warrington can agree that Claire Fox has no place in the House of Lords.”
In a letter to Ms Nicholls Lord Brew wrote:”Thank you for your letter of 4 August, relaying your concerns in relation to the peerage conferred on Claire Fox.
“Nominations of this nature are made by the Prime Minister. Nominations can also be received from the leader of an opposition party, where the Prime Minister has indicated to them that their party will be granted a certain number of new peers.
“The House of Lords Appointments Commission vets those nominees for probity and propriety. The Commission makes no judgement on the suitability of the individual to enter the Lords, or whether their achievements merit that decision. Those questions are a matter for the nominator.
“Advice relating to propriety is then provided to the Prime Minister. As I am sure you will appreciate, that advice is confidential. The Prime Minister makes the final decision on whether to recommend to Her Majesty that an individual is granted a peerage.
In response to Ms Nichols, Warrington South MP Andy Carter said:”“Ms Fox isn’t a Conservative politician, she hasn’t been nominated by the Conservative party and won’t sit in the House of a Lords as a Conservative Peer”.
“I don’t subscribe to her politics and I certainly don’t agree with the comments she made following the Warrington bombing in 1993, it’s a terrible shame that she hasn’t been unequivocal with an apology for what she said at the time”.
“I will be very clear, I do not support her appointment to the House of Lords and I understand fully why so many people in Warrington feel the same”.
PM urged to block ex-Brexit Party MEP who refused to condemn IRA attack on Warrington from Lords
