FORMER Stockton MP and party treasurer Sir Ian Wrigglesworth and former legal services ombudsman Zahida Manzoor took their seats in the House of Lords today as Liberal Democrat peers.

Lord Wrigglesworth and Baroness Manzoor were both given peerages as part of a list of new members of the Upper House announced by Prime Minister David Cameron in August.

Lord Wrigglesworth, 73, who has been Lib Dem treasurer since last year, is a former Labour and SDP MP who represented Thornaby, Teesside and Stockton South in the 1970s and 1980s.

Lady Manzoor, 55, was legal services ombudsman from 2003 to 2011 and is a former deputy chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality.

As they pledged their allegiance to the Queen in a short ceremony of introduction, Lord Wrigglesworth was flanked by his supporters Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank and Lord McNally, and Lady Manzoor by Lord Lester of Herne Hill and Baroness Jolly.