Peer Review

During his career as diplomat and civil servant, John Kerr held many influential positions at home and abroad. He was Ambassador to both the EU and then Washington at some of the most fascinating times in recent history, with his last role being Permanent Undersecretary at the Foreign Office & Head of the Diplomatic Service from 1997 to 2002. On leaving Government he became Secretary General of the European Convention becoming a Life Peer in 2004. 

As politician and special adviser, Edward Lister has been involved in British politics for the past 45 years. He was first elected to Wandsworth Council in 1979. He was Boris Johnson’s Chief of Staff to when he was Mayor of London, becoming his Strategic Adviser when he was Prime Minister notably during the Covid Pandemic in 2020. He was made a life peer in 2021.

Victor Adebowale is the former Chief Executive of the social care enterprise Turning Point and currently Chairs the NHS Confederation. He was one of the first individuals to become a People’s Peer in 2001 and has dedicated his career to exploring how to address and improve social care, housing, homelessness, addiction and mental health support. He has sat on numerous Government Task Forces to try to bring change to bear.  

David Howell has had a long and illustrious career as a politician, journalist and economic consultant. A Conservative MP between 1966 to 1997, he held positions in Government under Sir Edward Heath and then Margaret Thatcher as Secretary of State for Energy and then Transport, and more recently in the Cameron Coalition Government as a Foreign Office Minister sitting in the Lords. 

Charles Powell is a Diplomat and businessman who is best known for having served as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Foreign Policy Adviser during the 1980’s becoming one of her most trusted aides. Since leaving the Diplomatic Service he has served on the Boards of a number of international businesses.

John McFall was elected Lord Speaker of the House of Lords in 2021. Born and raised in Scotland, he started life as a teacher, becoming a Deputy Head at a school in Glasgow, before getting involved in Labour Party politics and becoming an MP in 1987. He held a number of ministerial positions under Tony Blair and was made a Peer in 2010.

Michael Spencer is a hugely successful businessman and philanthropist best known for founding ICAP and growing it into one of the world’s largest inter-dealer and electronic brokers of fixed income and foreign exchange. He is the founder of ICAP Charity Day which sees celebrities joining the trading desk for a day and the firm donating all revenue that day to charity. He has been in the House of Lord since 2020.

Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal since 2022, Nic True has spent the past 49 years of his career at the coal-face of our political system bringing his intellect to bear. From his early days in the Conservative Research Department, being Special Adviser to Norman Fowler, Director of the Public Policy Unit to heading up the Policy Unit at Number 10 and advising Prime Minister John Major (and writing his speeches), he has also dedicated many years to local politics having held elected office in Richmond Council for over a decade, and has sat in the Lords since 2011.