DOWNING Street has dismissed allegations of cronyism after appointing an ousted Tory MP to the Lords so he can keep his Cabinet position.
Zac Goldsmith will stay on as Environment Minister despite having lost his Richmond Park seat in this month’s election.
Goldsmith’s appointment came after Nicky Morgan also managed to keep her Cabinet post, despite standing down as an MP, when she was made a life peer.
Labour accused Boris Johnson of using the peerage system to appoint “jobs for mates”.
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The Prime Minister’s partner, Carrie Symonds, worked on Goldsmith’s failed bid to succeed Johnson as London mayor.
Asked about the criticism, the PM’s official spokesman said: “Zac Goldsmith was doing an excellent and committed job in Cabinet, dealing with really important issues, and he will now be able to get on with that work and carry on delivering.”
The spokesman repeated this praise when asked if it was reasonable to swiftly reward an MP who lost to the LibDems by 7766 votes. It was also pointed out that, in 2012, Goldsmith tweeted: “Seedy lists of party apparatchiks appointed by power-hungry party leaders & insulated from any democratic pressure for 15 yrs? No thanks.”
After the message was put to him, the official was unable to say how Johnson convinced the minister to stay on.
Shadow Culture Minister Jon Trickett accused the Government of cronyism.
“It says everything you need to know about Boris Johnson’s respect for democracy that he has ignored the voters of Richmond Park and appointed Goldsmith to government,” he said.
“At a time when the Conservatives are investigating racism in their party, they’ve appointed the person who ran an overtly racist campaign against Sadiq Khan.
“Zac Goldsmith is not fit to hold any government position.”
LibDem Sarah Olney, who took the Remain-supporting constituency from Brexiteer Goldsmith, echoed the allegations of cronyism.
“It is the first days of parliament returning and already Boris Johnson is rewarding his cronies with peerages,” she said.
Olney polled 34,559 votes compared to the Tory’s 26,793 on a turnout of 79% of the electorate at the last General Election.
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