South Norfolk leader John Fuller gets life peerage

John Fuller, Conservative leader of South Norfolk Council, was one of eight Tory nominations for life peerages put forward by prime minister Rishi Sunak.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak

Mr Fuller is the county's longest-serving council leader, having led South Norfolk Council since 2007.

Mr Fuller, who lives in Brooke, the division he has represented on South Norfolk Council since 2003, said: "I have dedicated the last 21 years to improving life in South Norfolk and the wider county and I am really honoured to have received this recognition.

"I look forward to continuing to champion the needs of our county and ensuring our voice is heard in London, while helping to shape and improve the laws that affect us all."

Mr Fuller said it was too soon to say if he would continue as the council's leader.

He said: "It's early days. There will need to be a period where I need to see how the land lies.

"But in the meantime, my priority is to see the setting of the budget for the council."

Great Yarmouth-born and Gorleston-raised Mr Fuller had been made an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 2019, for public and political service.

He is a former chairman of the District Councils Network, which represents more than 160 local authorities and vice chair of the economy and resources board at the Local Government Association.

The father-of-two serves as chairman of Great Yarmouth-based fertiliser business Brineflow Limited, having previously been director of J&H Bunn from 1998 until 2011.

A life peerage entitles Mr Fuller to sit in the House of Lords,  where the work of the government is scrutinised by reviewing and amending House of Commons-approved bills before they become law.

As a life peerage, the honour is solely for Mr Fuller and cannot be inherited.

The unelected House of Lords has about 800 members, compared with the 650 capped number of MPs in the House of Commons.

The appointments process recently faced fresh criticism.

Former prime minister Boris Johnson’s exit honours were described as a "catalogue of cronies" by critics, while South West Norfolk MP Liz Truss's included 11 nominations of mainly political supporters and former aides, despite her brief 49 days in Downing Street.