Party says appointments needed to balance composition, choosing former advisers to No 10 and the chancellor * UK politics live – latest updates Keir Starmer has appointed 25 Labour peers including a number of former senior government and party aides in a bid to strengthen his hand in the House of Lords. Matthew Doyle, a former No 10 director of communications, and Katie Martin, a former chief of staff to Rachel Reeves, will be among those appointed to the upper house in a move first reported by the Guardian. Continue reading...