Article by Cllr Dick Cole first published in Cornish Guardian newspaper (14th June 2023)

Boris Johnson’s “resignation honours list” was published on Friday. I completely disagree with such archaic arrangements and I knew it was something that I would cover in this week’s newspaper.

But then Johnson resigned as an MP, which he linked to the publication of a report from the Privileges Committee that has been investigating whether the former Prime Minister had misled parliament over breaches of lockdown rules during the pandemic.

Johnson’s resignation statement accused the Committee of being a “kangaroo court,” which was “determined to use the proceedings” to drive him “out of Parliament.” He also described the process as a “witch-hunt” and alleged that the Labour chair of the Committee (which has a Conservative majority) was guilty of “egregious bias,” while also showing significant anger towards his colleagues in the Tory Party.

And then we had the associated resignations of two of Johnson’s closest political allies, Nadine Dorries and Nigel Adams. It all seems so personal and orchestrated to undermine the institutions of governance, as well as both (former) political friends and political foes.

It is striking to me that there has been considerable speculation that both Dorries and Adams had been recommended for peerages from Johnson, but this had not been allowed. One has to ask to what degree the loss of their much anticipated “influence for life” underpinned their recent actions.

It is also little wonder that Johnson’s “resignation honours list,” published on the day of his own resignation, has generated such criticism. The list gives various rewards to some 40 allies and staffers, which includes Johnson’s former Principal Private Secretary who was partly culpable for the goings-on at 10 Downing Street that led to the former PM’s loss of office.

Political opponents of the Conservatives have variously described the honours as a “complete mockery” or “rewards for those who tried to cover up rule-breaking,” and “gongs for Johnson’s Partygate pals.” Others have simply described the list as “absurd” or said that it “stinks.”

At the time of writing this column, over 350,000 people have signed a petition calling on Rishi Sunak to block Johnson’s honours list. I am fully in agreement with this view.

But I would go further. The system, which allows former Prime Ministers to gift honours to their colleagues, is wrong – full stop. I find it particularly galling that some individuals even be given a place in the Second Chamber for life. None of this is appropriate for a 21st century democracy – the people of the UK deserve so much better.