FORMER Pendle MP John Lee is set to be elevated to the House of Lords. The former Tory MP for Nelson and Colne and then Pendle between 1979 and 1992 has been nominated as a Liberal Democrat Working Peer.
The 63-year-old quit as a Tory minister over the poll tax and after a spell as chairman of Christie Hospital Trust, Manchester, joined the Liberal Democrats in 2001.
He served as a junior defence, employment and tourist minister under Margaret Thatcher's Premiership.
The list of 28 Peers, expected to be officially published later this month, is controversial because businessmen who made big cash gifts to both the Tory and Labour party have been given peerages.
Other prominent figures being elevated to the Lords involve former transport union boss Sir Bill Morris, the deposed leader of the Ulster Unionists David Trimble, and the Rev Ian Paisley's wife Eileen.
The list comprises 11 Labour Peers, eight Tories, five Lib-Dems, three members of the Democratic Unionist Party and Ulster Unionist Mr Trimble.
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