Baroness Shami Chakrabarti takes her seat in the Lords
The human rights lawyer and new Labour peer insists her controversial appointment wasn't 'transactional'
Shami Chakrabarti has taken her seat in the House of Lords after her controversial nomination for a peerage by Jeremy Corbyn, following her anti-Semitism inquiry into the Labour Party.
The former head of Liberty has insisted there was “nothing remotely transactional” about her report, and said the peerage was offered after her inquiry was published.
Baroness Chakrabarti, who will sit on the Labour benches, was flanked by supporters Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws and Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon as she swore the oath of allegiance to the Queen.
Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist was also introduced to the Lords as a Conservative peer following David Cameron’s controversial resignation honours list.
The former governor of Cheltenham Ladies’ College and chief of staff to the Tory party treasurer was flanked by supporters Lord Strathclyde and Lord Chadlington as she swore the oath of allegiance to the Queen.
Lady Chakrabarti had faced questions over her independence during the anti-Semitism investigation after she revealed she had joined the Labour Party.
And Labour figures as well as prominent Jewish figures criticised Mr Corbyn’s decision to nominate Ms Chakrabarti to the House of Lords – alongside Mr Cameron’s resignation honours – just a month after her inquiry reported back.
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