- Liz Truss honours list criticized
- Includes political allies and supporters
- Accusations of rewarding failure
The list of resignation honours for the shortest-serving prime minister of the United Kingdom, Liz Truss, has incited a furious backlash from some critics.
For seats in the House of Lords, Ms. Truss nominated Conservative donor Jon Moynihan and former Vote Leave leader Matthew Elliott, who served for 49 days in office.
Former senior Truss adviser Ruth Porter is also elevated to peer status.
Former prime ministers usually nominate honorees, but Rishi Sunak was pressured to block Ms. Truss’s list.
Downing Street sources denied that the simultaneous announcement of her eleven nominations was an attempt to restrict coverage of Ms. Truss’s list. The majority of these nominations are former advisers and political supporters.
According to Willie Sullivan, senior director for campaigns at the Electoral Reform Society, the sight of Liz Truss bestowing peerages upon friends and supporters subsequent to her disastrously brief tenure as prime minister would offend a great number of individuals.
As many people suffer under her turbulent premiership, it appears the political elite is rewarding failure.
Additional names included on the “modest” list, as reported by Ms. Truss’s advisers, comprise Alec Shelbrooke, a former defence procurement minister and Conservative MP who supported her Tory leadership campaign.
An MP from Elmet and Rothwell is bestowed with a knighthood, whereas Thurrock Tory MP Jackie Doyle-Price, an enduring companion of Ms. Truss who briefly held the position of business minister during her tenure in No. 10, is elevated to the rank of dame.
The only non-political figure on the list is novelist Shirley Conran. The founder of the Maths Anxiety Trust charity, she received the dame honour for her mathematics teaching work.
“A slap to the face”
After advocating for the withdrawal from the European Union, Ms. Truss transitioned into a leader of the Brexit-supporting Conservative right. She was pleased to see these conservatives, limited government, and proud and sovereign Brits recognised.
Myra Truss resigned as prime minister in October 2022 subsequent to the economic turmoil instigated by her mini-budget.
The Liberal Democrats and Labour had urged Rishi Sunak to obstruct her resignation honours list.
Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow cabinet office minister for Labour, stated, “This list is unequivocal evidence of Rishi Sunak’s frailty and an insult in the face to the working class, who are bearing the financial burden of the Conservatives’ economic collapse.
Those dedicated to public service should be awarded honours, not rewards for Tory failure.
Daisy Cooper, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, stated, “The entire honours system is brought into disrepute when truss grants gongs after causing a hole in the public finances and leaving families reeling from spiralling mortgage costs.”
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Downing Street maintained that Ms. Truss’s list had undergone the customary scrutiny. It was unveiled concurrently with the New Year’s Honours due to its recent finalization.
“Each previous Labour prime minister has issued a Dissolution or Resignation List. This is a long-standing and ongoing tradition that predates the Labour Party’s inception,” a Downing Street source said.
“As is customary, the incumbent prime minister does not veto the political peerage nominations of others,” the source said, adding that Labour’s previous nominations were “questionable.”
The director of the Institute for Government think tank, Hannah White, stated that resignation honours tarnished the reputation of the entire honours system and should be eliminated.
She stated that the bestowal of peerages posed a specific challenge. It entailed an individual being bestowed with lifelong legislative authority “at the behest of a single individual.”
Particular counsel
Sally Truss hired three new people, including Matthew Elliott, a Taxpayers Alliance co-founder who supports reduced taxes. Throughout the 2016 EU referendum, he presided over Vote Leave, the principal pro-Brexit organisation, as its chief executive.
Ruth Porter, who managed the election leadership campaign for Ms Truss’s Conservative Party and also served as her deputy chief of staff in No. 10, presently holds a seat in the House of Lords.
Former PA Consulting Group chairman and chief executive Jon Moynihan presided over the Vote Leave campaign. He is also en route to the crimson benches of the House of Lords.
He gave Ms. Truss’s Tory leadership campaign £50,000 in two transactions, according to the register of MPs’ financial interests.
CBEs were bestowed upon erstwhile ministerial aides and Conservative members of parliament, Suzanne Webb and Rob Butler.
Shabbir Merali and Sophie Jarvis, two former Downing Street special advisors, received CBEs from Ms. Truss. Additionally, she granted an MBE to David Hills, the chairman of the Labour Party in the South West Norfolk constituency.
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