Keir Starmer blocks bid to make leading Sikh independence supporter a peer in ...

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Sir Keir Starmer ditched plans to give a peerage to a leading Sikh independence supporter amid concerns over his alleged ‘extremist’ links, it was claimed last night.

But the Labour leader is facing calls to explain his decision after friends of senior public official Dabinderjit Singh Sidhu insisted it was ‘complete nonsense’ to say he was a fanatic.

Sir Keir is also being urged to say whether he had bowed to warnings that the Indian government would be furious to see Mr Singh receive the honour.

Sources have suggested the timing of the peerage – ahead of a planned visit by Boris Johnson later this month – would have made it especially sensitive.

Mr Singh, a long-standing campaigner for the creation of a sovereign Sikh state in the Punjab in India, was due to be one of six new Labour peers announced just before Christmas. 

But The Mail on Sunday understands that on the day of the announcement, he was told Sir Keir had withdrawn his nomination. The move came even though the House of Lords Appointments Commission, which vets peerages on security service advice,

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