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Keir Starmer is set to appoint Richard Walker, the executive chair of Iceland Foods and a former Conservative donor, to the House of Lords — marking one of the most striking political shifts in recent years for a senior UK business figure.
The Guardian understands that Walker will join a cohort of around 25 new Labour peers expected to be announced later this month, giving the supermarket executive a direct platform in parliament to champion policies that have become central to his public campaigning, including closer ties with the EU and a more optimistic economic narrative.
Walker’s elevation to the Lords completes a rapid political realignment. A little over three years ago, he was being lined up as a potential Conservative MP candidate and had donated nearly £10,000 to the party in the summer of 2020, during Boris Johnson’s premiership. He was added to the approved Conservative candidates’ list in 2022.
But by 2023, Walker publicly severed ties with the party, accusing the Conservatives of having “drifted badly out of touch with business and the economy, and with the everyday needs of the British people”. He criticised the government’s management of key issues such as retail crime, inflation and the post-Brexit trading environment.
In early 2024, he endorsed Starmer after what he described as “a lot of soul-searching”, arguing that the Labour leader “has exactly what it takes to be a great leader”. Even then, he stopped short of framing himself as a future Labour politician. Yet his peerage will now make him one of the most prominent pro-Labour voices within British business.
Walker took over as executive chair of the frozen-food retailer in 2023, succeeding his father Malcolm, who founded Iceland in 1973. Both father and son have previously supported the Conservative Party and been regarded as part of the party’s natural business constituency.
His appointment to the Lords also comes at a politically sensitive moment for Starmer’s government. While several large retailers privately welcomed the fact that business rates reforms at the autumn budget were less punitive than expected, other business groups remain irritated by broader tax rises — including Labour’s decision to increase national insurance contributions.
The move also gives Labour a counterweight to the Conservatives’ established roster of retail peers, including Simon Wolfson, the chief executive of Next.
Labour declined to comment on the appointment. Walker has also been approached for comment.
