London(CNN) Former UK Prime Minister Theresa May is honoring Britain's former ambassador to the US, Sir Kim Darroch, months after he resigned in the wake of criticism by President Donald Trump.
May chose to make Darroch a life peer -- a member of the House of Lords -- in her resignation honors list, a tradition of British politics that grants an outgoing Prime Minister the right to reward anyone of their choosing.
There was a backlash against May's choices, which included a clutch of former advisers and a sportsman convicted of assaulting his former girlfriend.
But Darroch's peerage was welcomed by his former colleagues at the Foreign Office. "He brings to the Lords a highly relevant range of experience at an extraordinary time," said Peter Ricketts, a former head of the UK foreign service, who now sits in the Lords.
Trump targeted Darroch after a leak of diplomatic cables in which he criticized the President's administration as "inept" and "uniquely dysfunctional" Following the leak, Trump announced he would no longer work with Darroch, calling him "wacky" and a "very stupid guy."
Darroch will sit in the UK upper house as a cross-bencher, meaning he will be not be aligned to any political party. He will be officially made a peer when Parliament re-opens in mid-October.
May's decision to award a knighthood to former England cricketer Geoffrey Boycott, who was convicted in France in 1998 for assaulting his then girlfriend, was sharply criticized.
Boycott, 78, was found guilty of punching Margaret Moore more than 20 times in a hotel room. A judge rejected Boycott's claim that the injuries were sustained in an accidental fall.
"Celebrating a man who was convicted for assaulting his partner sends a dangerous message -- that domestic abuse is not taken seriously as a crime," Adina Claire, Women's Aid co-acting Chief Executive, said in a statement.
Dawn Butler, the women and equalities spokesperson for the opposition Labour party, called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to intervene to withdraw the knighthood.
"Celebrating a man convicted of assaulting his partner by giving him a knighthood is an insult to victims and survivors of domestic violence and shows how out of touch and nepotistic the honours list is," she said on Twitter.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday, Boycott said he "couldn't give a toss" about the backlash. He declined to comment further when contacted by CNN.