Rishi Sunak is set to approve Boris Johnson's resignation honours
Rishi Sunak is set to approve Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list despite warnings it will trigger a double by-election
- Mr Johnson’s resignation honours list is understood to include around 50 names
Rishi Sunak is to wave through Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list, despite warnings it will trigger a double by-election.
Whitehall sources said that after months of delay, Downing Street is poised to sign off the list drawn up by the former prime minister when he left office last summer.
Former Cabinet ministers Nadine Dorries and Sir Alok Sharma will both receive peerages, sparking awkward by-elections for the Tories. A plan devised by Cabinet Secretary Simon Case for them to defer taking their peerages until next year’s General Election was rejected by the Lords’ authorities.
Sources said the list is likely to be published this month – around the time the Commons privileges committee is expected to report on its inquiry into whether Mr Johnson lied to Parliament about Partygate.
Rishi Sunak is to wave through Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list, despite warnings it will trigger a double by-election. The pair are pictured together in June 2020 at a gathering in the Cabinet Room in 10 Downing Street
Some allies of Mr Sunak had urged him to block Mr Johnson’s list. But Tory strategists warned the move risked triggering another civil war with Mr Johnson’s supporters. Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson are pictured together in October 2020
Departing prime ministers are entitled to bestow honours on close allies after they leave, and Mr Johnson’s list is understood to include around 50 names.
However, No10 is thought to have protested about a plan to reward Mr Johnson’s father Stanley with a knighthood, and the proposal is likely to be dropped.
A proposed knighthood for his former communications director Guto Harri is also likely to be downgraded after he released revelations about a bust-up with the future King over the Government’s plan to send Channel migrants to Rwanda.
Some allies of Mr Sunak had urged him to block Mr Johnson’s list. But Tory strategists warned the move risked triggering another civil war with Mr Johnson’s supporters.
Tory officials will hope to cling on to the Mid-Bedfordshire seat held by Mrs Dorries, where the former Culture Secretary took nearly 60 per cent of the vote at the last election with a 24,000 majority over Labour.
The situation looks far more difficult in Sir Alok’s Reading West constituency, a key Labour target where the former Business Secretary held a majority of little more than 4,000 in 2019.
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