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Olympic rower and former cabinet secretary made peers
Olympic gold medallist Katherine Grainger and former cabinet secretary Simon Case have been given peerages, Downing Street has announced.
The pair, along with former national security adviser Tim Barrow and former John Lewis chairwoman Sharon White, will join the House of Lords as non-aligned crossbench peers.
Baroness Grainger, now chairwoman of the British Olympic Association (BOA), is Britain's most decorated female rower.
In addition to winning gold at the 2012 London Olympics, she won four silver medals – in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2016 – and six world championship titles.
Baroness Grainger then spent eight years as chairwoman of UK Sport before leaving the post this year and taking up the leadership of the BOA.
Lord Case became cabinet secretary in September 2020, having previously served as private secretary to the Duke of Cambridge. He stepped down at the end of 2024, having led the Civil Service during the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the funeral of Elizabeth II.
But his tenure was not without controversy, as he was forced to recuse himself from leading an investigation into the 'Partygate' scandal following allegations his office had held a Christmas event during lockdown.
Lord Case was not one of those fined over the scandal.
Lord Barrow played a key role in Brexit negotiations as the UK's representative to the EU between 2017 and 2021, before becoming national security adviser under Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.
He had been lined up by Mr Sunak to take over as ambassador to the US, but the change of government last year led to Sir Keir Starmer appointing Lord Peter Mandelson instead.
Baroness White was the first black person and second woman to become a permanent secretary at the Treasury, before serving as CEO of Ofcom between 2015 and 2019. She then chaired John Lewis between 2020 and 2024.
