Former NFU president Minette Batters awarded peerage

The former NFU president Minette Batters has been honoured with a peerage, after a decade of service to the farming union and becoming the NFU's first female president. 

NFU president Tom Bradshaw congratulated Ms Batters, adding 'she will continue to be a tenacious campaigner for our sector from the red benches.'

Mr Bradshaw said: "I would also like to offer, on behalf of the whole NFU family, my huge congratulations to our former President, Minette Batters, who will shortly be appointed as a Crossbench member of the House of Lords."

Honours list

The former Defra Secretary Dr Therese Coffey has also been honoured with a Damehood. Dr Coffey held the position at Defra for over 12 months under a Rishi Sunak government and served a short spell as Deputy Prime Minister under Liz Truss. Dr Coffey has now lost her seat as representative for Suffolk Coast to the Labour Party.

Former Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May will also sit in the House of Lords having been nominated for a peerage alongside the former Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, and the chair of the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady.

Other Nominations from the Leader of the Conservative Party

1.    The Rt Hon Dame Eleanor Laing DBE PC - Lately Member of Parliament for Epping Forest, lately Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons.

2.    Craig Mackinley JP - Lately Member of Parliament for South Thanet.

3.    The Rt Hon Sir Alok Sharma KCMG PC - Lately Member of Parliament for Reading West and former Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Secretary of State for International Development and President for COP26.

4.    Liam Booth-Smith - Lately No10 Downing Street Chief of Staff.

Nominations from the Leader of the Labour Party

1.    The Rt Hon Dame Margaret Beckett GBE PC - Former Foreign Secretary and former Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.

2.    John Cryer - Lately Member of Parliament for Leyton and Wanstead.

3.    The Rt Hon Harriet Harman KC PC - Lately Member of Parliament for Camberwell and Peckham, and formerly Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.

4.    The Rt Hon Dame Margaret Hodge DBE PC - Lately Member of Parliament for Barking and former Minister of State for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

5.    The Rt Hon Kevan Jones PC - Lately Member of Parliament for North Durham and former Minister for Veterans at the Ministry of Defence.

6.    Barbara Keeley - Lately Member of Parliament for Worsley and Eccles South and formerly Shadow Minister for Music and Tourism.

7.    The Rt Hon John Spellar PC - Lately Member of Parliament for Warley and formerly Comptroller of the Household in the Whips' Office.

8.    The Rt Hon Dame Rosie Winterton DBE PC - Lately Member of Parliament for Doncaster Central and former Deputy Speakers in the House of Commons.

Nominations from the Liberal Democrat Party

Caroline Pidgeon MBE - Lately Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the London Assembly.

Nominations from the Ulster Unionist Party

Thomas Elliott MLA - Member of the Legislative Assembly for Fermanagh and South Tyrone and former leader of the Ulster Unionist Party.

Other nominations for Crossbench Peerages

Dr Hilary Cass OBE FRCN FRCGP - Former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.