Worcester College Provost David Isaac has been appointed to the House of Lords as a Labour peer. He is among 34 new peerages created by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, 25 of which are Labour, 5 Liberal Democrats, and 3 Conservatives.
Isaac has been Provost of Worcester College since 2021. He was previously chair of Stonewall, beginning in 2003, a UK human rights charity advocating for LGBTQ+ equality. Under his leadership, the group successfully lobbied for the abolition of Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, which had restricted the visibility of homosexuality in public life, and for the introduction of civil partnerships in 2004.
Isaac also chaired the Equality and Human Rights Commission from 2016 to 2020. During his tenure, the Commission dealt with issues surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, Brexit, Windrush, Grenfell Tower, immigration policies, and allegations of antisemitism in the Labour Party.
In a statement to the press, Isaac said: “It is an honour to have been appointed to the House of Lords, and I’m grateful to the Prime Minister for the opportunity to make this contribution to public service in parallel with my commitment to Worcester College, Oxford.”
Isaac studied Law at Trinity College, Cambridge before completing an MA in Socio-Legal studies at Wolfson College, Oxford. As well as being head of Worcester, Isaac is the Chair of the University of Arts London and Chair of the Henry Moore Foundation, a UK-based arts charity. He is also the first Provost to keep bees at Worcester and occasionally sells their honey around college.
Among those joining Isaac in the Lords will be Matthew Doyle, a former 10 Downing Street Director of Communications, and Richard Walker, CEO of Iceland Foods. Isaac is not the only new peer with a background in education. University of Surrey Pro Chancellor, Dame Anne Limb, and University of Exeter Chancellor Sir Michael Barber also received peerages, alongside other academics.
The House of Lords is the UK’s unelected upper chamber of Parliament, composed of mostly life peers alongside a smaller number of hereditary members. Life peers are appointed from a broad range of professional and public backgrounds and use their expertise to scrutinise policy and conduct in-depth inquiries through committees. They also receive a £371 daily allowance on top of income from their other positions.
Following the new peerages, and along with the planned abolition of hereditary peers, Labour will increase its representation in the Lords from around 25% to 30% by the end of the year. This comes amid growing frustration within the party over delays to government legislation in the House of Lords, such as the Employment Rights Bill, in which ministers were forced to make some concessions.
