Aim is to make parties set out candidates’ experience and suitability, after criticism of Boris Johnson appointments

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Political parties will be required to justify offering peerages under new rules being drafted by the government to overhaul the image of the House of Lords.

The move – which could involve similar citations as those when people receive honours from the monarch – is in response to a number of controversial appointments over the years including those of two of Boris Johnson’s key aides and of Evgeny Lebedev, the Independent’s largest shareholder.