Brexiteer and former cricketer Sir Ian Botham has taken his seat in the House of Lords.
Baron Botham, more used to the surroundings of Lord’s Cricket Ground, wore the traditional scarlet and ermine-trimmed robe for the brief formal introduction ceremony.
The clerk referred to him as Baron Botham of Ravensworth after his home village.
The sportsman was given a life peerage as a reward for his support during the EU referendum, alongside pro-Brexit campaigners including Kate Hoey, Claire Fox and Gisela Stuart.
During the EU referendum, Botham gave his support for Johnson’s campaign in the Times.
He wrote: “Cricket is a game where you achieve the greatest success when you are confident in your own ability to go out and stand proud. Britain has that spirit.
“It is insane that because we are in the EU we do not have the freedom to reach our own agreements to trade freely with these places or with emerging powers like China. We have lost the right to govern ourselves, to make our own laws and to choose who comes here.”
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Technical problems delayed the start of proceedings in the Lords, which prompted the Lord Speaker Lord Fowler to joke “rain has stopped play”.
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