A Tory peer has called Liz Truss’s resignation honours list an “insult to the nation” and urged Rishi Sunak to block it from going through.
Truss lasted just a month and a half in the top job after her disastrous mini-budget sparked panic in the financial markets.
It has since been revealed that she was handed a £19,000 severance payment for her short time in office, despite the fact that she triggered a pension fund crisis and managed to add £91 million to the EU divorce bill due to fluctuating exchange rates.
Reports in the Sunday Times suggest her resignation honours list is going through the final stages of being vetted before being made public.
Her predecessor, Boris Johnson, attracted scorn after he awarded honours to Jacob Rees-Mogg, Michael Fabricant and Charlotte Owen, who became one of the youngest peers in the House of Lords.
But he could be outdone by Truss, who is believed to have handed an honour to one person for every four days she was in office.
Among those said to be on the list currently being assessed by the House of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC) are Tory donor Sir Jon Moynihan and Ruth Porter, who was Truss’s deputy chief of staff in Number 10.
Tory peer Lord Cormack today it was “absurd to think that somebody who was in office for such a short space of time … should be able to dole out honours to people”.
“What can they have done in the 40 days and 40 nights that she was in No. 10 to be worthy of honours,” he told Radio Four’s World at One programme.
“I think it brings the whole system into disrepute. I know it places the prime minister in an awkward situation, and I’m very sorry for him. But I think he should say no, and he could easily say that he’s not going to have one either, however long he serves.”
He added: “It would be complete nonsense – and, frankly, an insult to the nation – for her to have a list after such an ignominious period in No. 10.”
