Boris Johnson’s former chief of staff Dan Rosenfield has decided not to sit on the Conservative benches following his elevation to the Lords in a move that has outraged some Tories, with one saying it made the former prime minister “look like a chump”.
Rosenfield, a former Treasury official, was one of several ex-aides nominated in June for peerages in Johnson’s resignation honours list.
However, he is now listed on parliamentary profiles as a non-affiliated life peer, unlike the others on the list who include Charlotte Owen, a former aide; Ross Kempsell, a former journalist who became Johnson’s spokesperson; and Ben Houchen, the Tees Valley mayor.
Rosenfield, who has taken the title of Baron Rosenfield of Muswell Hill, became Johnson’s chief of staff in January 2021 in a reorganisation after the departure of Dominic Cummings.
His decision to sit as a cross-bencher in the Lords is related to his post-government work in the private sector, according to “allies” quoted in the Times. That work includes employment as a director of Centrica, the energy company that owns British Gas.
Centrica was said to have indicated his role was not compatible with becoming a Tory-affiliated peer as it needed political neutrality.
However, one Tory source was quoted as saying: “It is totally outrageous and makes Johnson look like a chump”, while another said Rosenfield had “never been a proper Tory in the first place”.
Rosenfield was a relatively little-known former Treasury official and banker when appointed as Johnson’s chief of staff in a move portrayed as being part of a reset and an attempt to exert some stability.
At the time, he was working for Hakluyt, an upmarket corporate advisory firm, and took over the Downing Street role from Edward Lister, Johnson’s longtime aide and interim chief of staff.
Rosenfield was not well-known in Conservative circles, or even to have shown any particular affiliation to the party, but had spent more than 10 years as an official at the Treasury, acting as principal private secretary to Alistair Darling and George Osborne when they were chancellors, from 2007 to 2011.
His appointment followed the departure of Cummings, Johnson’s chief aide, and of Lee Cain, the Downing Street head of communications, amid bitter infighting within No 10.
