Johnson’s honours are a sign of a system unfit for purpose

Blink, and you might have missed. The news train was indeed coming fast on Friday 9 June, but before the news of Boris Johnson’s resignation from Parliament filled front pages, the main story was over his list of resignation honours.

It had been a long wait. Press reports over who would be on this feted list have been circulating for months. The question of who’s in or who’s out (or rather, who’s off to the Lords) had become so charged that it produced a mini-crisis. Johnson and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had resolved to backroom bartering over who could be on the list or not, an unsavoury affair the equivalent of baiting the popular but not very nice kids by inviting them to your birthday party.

The Prime Minister’s Resignation Honours is not a new practice, but never before has it attracted so much attention. That is perhaps excluding 1976, when Harold Wilson’s nominations became the source of much ridicule.

It is antiquated, nonsensical and gives Parliament the look of a private boys’ club

Nicknamed the ‘Lavender List’ for the colour of the paper they were drafted on, they rewarded a set of dubious businessmen who were not seen as very sympathetic to the governing Labour Party of the time.

And for a while, such lists became a bit taboo. Neither Tony Blair or Gordon Brown produced one, perhaps for similar reasons that Brown did away with the convention of enjoying an alcoholic tipple while announcing the Budget: it is antiquated, nonsensical and gives Parliament the look of a private boys’ club.

Since then, however, they have crept back in. David Cameron awarded his wife Samantha’s stylist with an OBE in his. And in her nominations, Theresa May gave two life peerages to individuals under the age of 40.

This is something that has been taken even further by Johnson. On his list there is a position in the other place for Charlotte Owen, his former political advisor, who is set to become the youngest life peer in history at just 29.

Save us the cronyism and get rid of it

All of this off the back of a career devoid of any significant life experience. Working almost exclusively as a parliamentary assistant or advisor, she is far from the Lord Sugar or Baroness Benjamin levels of public contribution.

Not only do the Resignation Honours and broader rise in life peerages (Johnson created 79 within just two years of his tenure as PM) weaken the case for retaining the appointed upper House, but they undermine the dignity and selflessness of Prime Ministerial office.

Is it not enough to enjoy the privilege that comes with occupying No. 10, and benefit from the lifetime of public speaking gigs that comes with it, than having to reward friends with cushy seats in our legislature for the rest of their lives?

Soon attention will turn to whether or not Liz Truss, PM for only 49 days, will contribute a list. She has apparently been urged to not ‘embarrass’ His Majesty the King with an indulgent request. Frankly this arcane system is beyond any redemption. Save us the cronyism and get rid of it.