Reforming the House of Lords should begin by constraining a departing leader’s power to dish out lifetime awards to friends and cronies
When handing out lifetime honours, Boris Johnson’s guiding principle has been brazen cronyism and snubbing established convention. But the most recent revelations, on the eve of MPs debating the privileges committee report into Mr Johnson’s deceit over Partygate, are jaw-dropping. On Sunday, a video emerged of Conservative staffers enjoying a 2020 Christmas “jingle and mingle” jamboree that patently broke lockdown rules. Mr Johnson must have known about this event. Yet at least two of those at the party were on his resignation honours list.
Voters care about honesty and integrity in politics. Mr Johnson does not. By waving through the list, Rishi Sunak appears either to agree with his disgraced predecessor or to be too weak to stop it. The government says it was respecting “due process” – as prime ministers routinely rubber stamp those appointments approved by peers. But Mr Johnson did not respect such norms. The manner of his departure – convicted by parliament’s highest court of lying – is unprecedented. The current prime minister is responsible for recommending honours. Mr Sunak would have been justified in refusing Mr Johnson’s list. He should have done so.
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