PM's brother Jo Johnson, England cricket legend Sir Ian Botham and Evening Standard proprietor Evgeny Lebedev among 36 to receive peerages

Peerages were nominated today for cricket legend Sir Ian Botham, LSE director Dame Minouche Shafik and the Evening Standard’s campaigning proprietor Evgeny Lebedev.

The trio, who will sit on the crossbenches of the House of Lords, indicating they will not join any political party, were on a list of 36 people unveiled by Downing Street.

Boris Johnson’s brother Jo Johnson, who dramatically resigned as a minister at the height of the Brexit battles last year citing “the national interest”, was one of the surprise names on the list.

The Prime Minster also put forward a battalion of former MPs, both Labour and Tory, who rebelled against their party leaders to support the campaign for Brexit.

But there was no peerage for John Bercow, the former Speaker who enraged Brexiteers by creatively interpreting Parliament’s rulebook to allow backbenchers to force votes on key decisions.

And Tom Watson, the former deputy Labour leader who unwittingly played a controversial role in promoting false claims of a historic child sex abuse ring at Westminster was also left out.

Sir Ian was one of England’s greatest all-rounders in history, scoring 5,200 Test runs and taking 383 wickets. He also backed the Brexit campaign and shared a platform with Mr Johnson before the referendum.

Egyptian born Dame Minouche was recently tipped to be the Bank of England’s first ever woman governor and is regarded as one of the finest economic brains in the land.

Mr Lebedev is a leading journalist, charity campaigner and supporter of the arts. The owner of the Evening Standard, the Independent and London Live, his journalism has spotlighted causes including vulnerable women, endangered species and child soldiers. He also launched appeals that raised millions for causes ranging from the £13 million Dispossessed Fund and homeless veterans to Great Ormond Street hospital and the recent Food for London campaign that provided free meals to vulnerable people during lockdown.

Dissolution peerages

Nominations from the leader of the Conservative Party

1. Sir Henry Bellingham

2. Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke CH QC

3. Rt Hon Ruth Davidson MSP

4. Rt Hon Philip Hammond

5. Rt Hon Nicholas Herbert CBE

6. Rt Hon Joseph Johnson

7. Colonel Rt Hon John Mark Lancaster TD VR

8. Rt Hon Sir Patrick McLoughlin CH

9. Aamer Sarfraz

10. Rt Hon Edward Vaizey

Nominations for the Leader of the Labour Party:

11. Kathryn Clark

12. Brinley Davies

Nominations for the Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party:

13. Rt Hon Nigel Dodds OBE

Nominations for non-affiliated Peerages

14. Rt Hon Frank Field

15. Catharine Hoey

16. Ian Austin

17. Rt Hon Gisela Stuart

18. John Woodcock

Among the party political honours, Mr Johnson ennobled his chief strategic adviser Sir Edward Lister, an ally from City Hall days, and

Former MPs who rebelled against Labour’s position to back Brexit, including former Vauxhall MP Kate Hoey, Frank Field, Ian Austin, John Woodcock and Gisela Stuart.

From the opposite side of the Brexit battle, former chancellors Ken Clarke and Philip Hammond and ex-minister Ed Vaizey, who were all stripped of the Tory whip for defying Mr Johnson, were made peers.

A knighthood was announced at the same time for Philip May, husband of Theresa May, Boris Johnson's predecessor in Downing Street.

And former leader of the Scottish Conservatives Ruth Davidson will also head to the House of Lords.

Other names included Nigel Dodds, former Westminster leader of the DUP, and ex-MPs Sir Henry Bellingham, Nicholas Herbert, Mark Lancaster, and Sir Patrick McLoughlin.

Political peerages

Nominations from the Leader of the Conservative Party:

1. Lorraine Fullbrook

2. Sir Edward Udny-Lister

3. Daniel Moylan

4. Andrew Sharpe OBE

5. Michael Spencer

6. Veronica Wadley CBE

7. James Wharton

8. Dame Helena Morrissey

9. Neil Mendoza

Nominations from the former Leader of the Labour Party

10. Susan Hayman

11. Prem Sikka

12. Anthony Woodley

Nominations for non-affiliated Peerages

13. Claire Fox

14. Charles Moore

Nominations for Crossbench Peerages

15. Sir Ian Botham

16. Dame Louise Casey

17. Evgeny Lebedev

18. Dame Nemat (Minouche) Shafik

Two more great names from journalism will sit as peers – former Evening Standard editor Veronica Wadley and the former Telegraph editor and Thatcher biographer Charles Moore.

The Speaker of the House of Lords, Lord Fowler, complained that too many peerages were being created and the House would "soon be nearly 830 strong".

"It is also a vast pity that the list has been announced within the first few days of the summer recess when neither House is sitting, and the Government cannot be challenged in Parliament," he continued.

The Liberal Democrats' leader in the Lords, Lord Newby said Mr Johnson had "abandoned any pretence of reducing the size of the bloated House of Lords".

Darren Hughes, chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society, said: "Based on the average claim of a peer, the 36 new peers are likely to cost £1.1 million a year in expenses from the taxpayer.”