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Despite serving just 49 days in office, Liz Truss has been allowed to put forward her honours list for the new year. In total, 11 people will receive a commendation – and 10 of those official titles are purely based on politics.
There are three new life peers coming to the House of Lords in 2024. The most recognisable name on the list is Matthew Elliot, the Chief Strategist for the Vote Leave campaign. It seems the short-serving PM has forgotten why she campaigned to Remain in 2016.
Jon Moyniham, another architect of Brexit and a mega-donor for the Tories, has received the same honour. Ruth Porter, who spent just six weeks as the Deputy Chief as Staff for Liz Truss, completes the trio – all of whom will be granted powers to approve laws in the UK.
Elsewhere, Tory MPs Jackie Doyle-Price and Alec Shelbrooke have received a damehood and a knighthood respectively. Two other elected Conservative MPs – Rob Butler and Suzanne Webb – get OBEs. Meanwhile, advisers Shabbir Merali and Sophie Jarvis are in line for CBEs.
Truss has also kept things close to home, nominating the chair of the Conservative Association in her own Norfolk-based constituency. Congrats to David Hills, we guess, who has absolutely earned his MBE on merit…
Novelist Shirley Conran, who also founded the Maths Anxiety Trust, is the only nominee without political connections to Liz Truss, and will be made a dame when the calendar flips over to 2024. Alas, the other controversial decisions have sparked a backlash.
The Liberal Democrats’ Deputy Leader, Daisy Cooper, believes that this honours list ‘brings the whole system into disrepute’. Labour’s Jon Ashworth, who currently serves as the shadow minister for the Cabinet Office, branded it ‘a slap in the face’ for ordinary Brits:
“This list is proof positive of Rishi Sunak’s weakness and a slap in the face to working people who are paying the price of the Tories crashing the economy. Honours should be for those committed to public service, not rewards for Tory failure.” | Jon Ashworth
