Former deputy prime minister John Prescott, ex-Tory leader Michael Howard and former Northern Ireland first minister Ian Paisley are also among more than 50 senior figures elevated to the House of Lords.

Children’s television presenter Floella Benjamin is being made a Liberal Democrat peer, while Sue Nye, a key adviser to Gordon Brown, will be a Labour peer.

Former Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Ian Blair will become a crossbencher, according to an honours list released by Downing Street.

The roll includes a clutch of working peers nominated to represent each of the main parties. Helen Newlove, who has campaigned against drink-related violence since her husband Garry was beaten to death by a gang in Warrington in 2007, is to become a Tory peer