Westminster blog

The official announcement has just come through. There are 56 new peers entering the House of Lords. There are 29 Labour, 16 Tories, 9 Lib Dems, 1 DUP and 1 cross-bencher.

LABOUR

John Prescott (pictured): Croquet-playing, Tweeting, sentence-mangling former deputy prime minister.

John Reid: Scottish former defence secretary (and home secretary, and health secretary) who now chairs Celtic football club

Margaret Wheeler: Unison, director of organisation

Michael Williams: former adviser on foreign affairs

Des Browne: Scottish former defence secretary

Quentin Davies (pictured): former defence secretary who crossed the floor from the Tories and put his bell tower on expenses

Bev Hughes: Former immigration and prisons minister

Sir Jeremy Beecham, former chair of Local Government Association

Rita Donaghy, former chair of Conciliation and Arbitration Service

Tommy McAvoy: Former senior whip in the Commons

Hilary Armstrong: North-east MP who remained loyal to Blair until the end.

John Hutton (pictured): Blarite former defence secretary who resigned last summer but did not knife Gordon Brown

Jeannie Drake, former deputy general secretary of Communication Workers Union

Dianne Hayter, chair of Legal Services Communication Panel (and chair of Labour’s national executive committee)

John McFall: Respected former head of the Treasury select committee and Brown loyalist

Angela Smith (presumably former PPS to Gordon Brown)

Paul Boateng (pictured): Former chief secretary to the Treasury and high commissioner to South Africa.

Roy Kennedy, Labour’s director of finance and compliance

Helen Liddell: former secretary of state for Scotland

Jack McConnell: former first minister of Scotland

Wilf Stevenson: Former head of controversial Smith Institute which had close links to Gordon Brown.

Sue Nye (pictured): Gordon Brown’s gatekeeper (and wife of Gavyn Davies) who he famously derided during “Bigot-gate”.

Anna Healey: former special adviser to Harriet Harman and wife of Jon Cruddas MP

Roger Liddle: an adviser on European matters to Labour

John Monks: gen sec of European TUC (and previously head of national TUC)

Maeve Sherlock: former chief exec of the Refugee Council

Jim Knight: former education minister

Don Touhig: former MoD minister

David Wills: former minister in Ministry of Justice

CONSERVATIVES

John Gummer: environmentally-leaning former Suffolk MP

John Maples: Tory grandee

Michael Howard (pictured): former party leader who stepped down after the general election defeat of 2005.

Michael Spicer: former head of the 22 committee

Tim Boswell: former whip

Angela Browning: former Maff Parliamentary secretary

Helen Newlove: campaigner against drink-related violence

Guy Black: senior executive at the Telegraph group who previously was a press secretary to Mr Howard.

Shireen Ritchie (pictured): grassroots Tory and mother of Guy Ritchie, film director

Simon Wolfson: chief executive of Next

Dolar Popat: Ugandan-born Indian millionaire and Tory donor

Margaret Eaton: Chair of the Local Government Association

John Gardiner: deputy chief exec of Countryside Alliance

Edward Faulks QC: barrister

Deborah Stedman-Scott: chief executive of Tomorrow’s People, employment charity

Nat Wei: founder of Teach First

LIBERAL DEMOCRATS

Ken McDonald: Former director of public prosecutions

Floella Benjamin (pictured): Actress, author, TV personality

Mike German: former deputy first minister of Wales

Meral Hussein: Islington councillor

Richard Allan: former MP

Matthew Taylor: former MP for Truro and St Austell

Phil Willis: former MP for Harrogate

Kathryn Parminter, former ceo of Campaign to Protect Rural England

John Shipley, Newcastle councillor

DUP

Ian Paisley (pictured): former head of the Democratic Unionist Party

Cross-bench peer

Sir Ian Blair (pictured): former head of the Metropolitan Police who was deposed by Boris Johnson soon after the latter became London mayor.

UPDATE

There are also three knighthoods: Keith HIll (former minister), William O’Brien (former MP) and Ian McCartney (former minister)

Here is the formal announcement at 10 Downing Street if you want all the formalities.