Honor system
The ousted prime minister was allowed to resign on the honor roll despite only spending 49 days in Downing Street
Fri, December 29, 2023, 10:30 p.m. GMT
Ousted Prime Minister Liz Truss was awarded numerous honors and three new peerages – including one of the architects of Brexit, a Tory donor and her former deputy chief of staff.
Truss was given the Resignation Honors list by Rishi Sunak, despite being forced to step down from No. 10 after just 49 days due to the turmoil in financial markets caused by her Chancellor's mini-Budget.
Former Vote Leave boss Matthew Elliott joins Liz Truss' list.
She was given the privilege of electing three new MPs to the House of Lords: Matthew Elliott, who co-founded the Vote Leave campaign; Jon Moynihan, a businessman, party donor and leader of Vote Leave; and Ruth Porter, her former deputy chief of staff.
Moynihan has donated a total of around £700,000 to the Conservatives, Vote Leave and Truss' own leadership campaign.
The Truss lists also include damehoods for Shirley Conran of the Maths Anxiety Trust and Tory MP Jackie Doyle-Price, as well as a knighthood for Tory MP Alec Shelbrooke.
Former Truss advisers Shabbir Merali and Sophie Jarvis receive CBEs, while Tory MPs Rob Butler and Suzanne Webb receive OBEs. David Hills, leader of the Conservative Association in South West Norfolk, Truss's constituency, receives an MBE.
Sunak had been called on to block Truss's honors list and shadow cabinet minister Jonathan Ashworth said: “This list is clear evidence of Rishi Sunak's weakness and a slap in the face to working people who are paying the price of the crash Tories pays.” the economy.
Ruth Porter, former special adviser to Liz Truss, also receives a peerage.
“Honours should go to those who commit to public service, not rewards for Tory failure.
“Instead of apologizing for crashing the economy and driving up mortgage rates, costing families thousands, Rishi Sunak has nodded through these tarnished gongs because he is too weak to lead a Tory party that has completely lost touch with the working population.”
A government source said: “Every previous Labor prime minister has issued a dissolution or resignation list – this is a longstanding and ongoing convention. “The convention is that the incumbent prime minister does not block others' proposals for political elevation to the peerage.”
Sunak has had the list for many weeks, but it was only sent out late on Friday afternoon, to coincide with his own New Year's Honors list – a move that led to accusations he was trying to cover up bad news.
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said “The shameless move to reward Liz Truss' car crash friends is only matched by Sunak's weakness, which failed to fend him off.”
She added: “Truss handing out gongs after blowing a hole in the public finances and leaving families reeling from skyrocketing mortgage costs brings this whole honor system into disrepute.
“The honor system should recognize hard-working people who have achieved great things; The disruption to this celebration shows how out of touch with reality this Conservative government really is.”
Truss said she was “delighted that these champions of the Conservative causes of freedom, limited government and a proud and sovereign Britain have been duly honoured”.
In June, Sunak was also criticized for endorsing Boris Johnson's resignation honors list, which included more than 40 names, despite a parliamentary inquiry into whether the former prime minister had misled the House of Commons.
Hours before Johnson announced he would resign as an MP and accused the investigation of trying to “drive him away”, his Honor Roll was published.
The awards went to Johnson's closest Covid-era aides, including an Order of the Bath for his former chief private secretary Martin Reynolds, who chaired a garden party during lockdown restrictions in 2020.
Johnson's list also made Charlotte Owen, a 30-year-old former adviser, the youngest life peer in the House of Lords.
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