The reverberations from Boris Johnson’s resignation peerages and honours list have not died down. They are likely to continue, especially if the former culture secretary Nadine Dorries, who was spurned for a Johnson peerage, has anything to do with it. But even the political stink surrounding the Johnson list may soon be outdone by Liz Truss’s outrageous proposed resignation honours. Rishi Sunak will deserve every piece of opprobrium that he gets if he nods this latest list through.
From what is known about the names submitted by Ms Truss, which are now being vetted by the House of Lords appointments commission and by the Cabinet Office, her list is a disgrace on two quite separate grounds. The first is that she has submitted a list at all, having been bundled out of No 10 last October after a mere 49 days. The very existence of her list is shameless and shaming, both to Ms Truss and to those who are on it. Mr Sunak and the House of Lords appointment commission should put a stop to it right now. » | Editorial | Sunday, August 13, 2023
The honours sytem is a joke. Honours are dished out like Smarties at a kid's birthday party! For honours to mean anything, they should be given sparingly to truly worthy people. That Liz Truss, a loser by any meaningful definition of the word, should be allowed to dish out honours when her very short time in office and extreme politics were, for many, as appalling as they were painful, and equally disastrous for the country, even at a time of great difficulties for the masses and poverty for the many, is a perversion and makes a mockery of the system. In any case, do we really need to dole out honours in the twenty-first century? The system perpetuates the class system, thus hindering upward mobility for the many. Further, this country is riven by class as it is, so handing out honours divides the nation even more. There is no need to add to the nation's divisions. So do we really need to make people lords and barons and kinights and ladies and baronesses? Come the coffin, in spite of titles and honours, they will soon thereafter turn to ashes anyway! – © Mark Alexander
