Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has written to Prime Minister Keir Starmer asking for the right to nominate peers to the House of Lords, arguing that the party’s absence from the upper chamber creates a “democratic disparity.” Farage noted that Reform secured more than 4.1 million votes in the July 2024 general election, has four MPs and controls ten councils in England, yet holds no seats in the Lords, while smaller or similarly sized parties are represented. Appointments to the Lords are a prerogative of the prime minister, and Downing Street said any nominations would follow established conventions overseen by the House of Lords Appointments Commission. Farage’s demand marks a reversal for the populist leader, who previously called for the chamber’s abolition. Defence Secretary John Healey dismissed the request, saying Farage once wanted to “abolish the House” and accusing him of seeking to install “cronies” and “Putin apologists” in Parliament. The government has recently tightened vetting rules for political peerages, and Starmer has no constitutional obligation to grant opposition parties nominations, although predecessors have often done so.