A peer appointed by Boris Johnson in his controversial resignation honours list has snubbed the Tory party by sitting as an independent in the House of Lords.
Dan Rosenfield, Mr Johnson’s former chief of staff at No 10, will sit as a non-affiliated peer in the chamber, it is understood.
Now Baron Rosenfield of Muswell Hill, the Johnson ally is thought to remain keen to be neutral because of his role as director of Centrica, owner of British Gas.
The move has angered senior Tories, according to The Times – with one source saying he had “really irritated people from Cabinet ministers down”.
The source told the newspaper: “It is totally outrageous and makes Johnson look like a chump.”
“When Centrica employed him they knew he was a Tory so it’s really hard to see why they could have an objection to him sitting on the Conservative benches.”
Sources close to Mr Rosenfield said Centrica had pointed out that becoming a Tory peer was not compatible with the need to stay above party politics.
But his job as chief of staff was among the most political roles enjoyed by special advisers working for the Johnson government.
The former civil servant, who acted as principal private secretary to Labour chancellor Alistair Darling as well as Tory chancellor George Osborne, went on to work for Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
But he returned to frontline politics by taking up the top No 10 role at the beginning of 2021 in the aftermath of Dominic Cummings’ dramatic exit as senior adviser to the PM.
Mr Johnson was accused of bringing the whole honours system into question with his controversial list of peerages.
Dan Rosenfield surprised Tories by becoming non-affliated peer— (Reuters)
He raised eyebrows by handing a peerage to 29-year-old former adviser Charlotte Owen. It was claimed that her role at No 10 had been exaggerated as she was described as “extraordinarily junior”.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to scrap the current House of Lords and replace it with an elected chamber of “nations and regions”. But Sir Keir is said to be drawing up plans to appoint dozens of Labour peers to stop his legislative agenda from being frustrated.
The row the newly-elevated Lord Rosenfield comes as Theresa May again criticised Mr Johnson and said the UK would have been better off under her Brexit deal than the one eventually struck by her successor.
“It wouldn’t have given either side 100% of what they wanted, but it would have given the country a better overall deal,” she told BBC’s Political Thinking podcast.
Discussing her book The Abuse of Power: Confronting Injustice in Public Life, Ms May criticised Mr Johnson over the Partygate scandal – arguing it had helped shatter public trust in politicians.
Ms May said “it was that sense from the public that it was one rule for the public, and one rule for the politicians, that I think was damaging”.
