Liz Truss’s Controversial Resignation Honours List Sparks Backlash

(CTN News) – Liz Truss, who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for the shortest amount of time, has revealed her resignation honors list, which has prompted a furious outcry from certain critics.

Liz Truss, who served in government for a total of 49 days, put forth the names of former Vote Leave leader Matthew Elliott and Conservative contributor Jon Moynihan for possible seats in the Lords.

A former senior Liz Truss aide named Ruth Porter is likewise elevated to the status of peer.

Rishi Sunak has been subjected to calls to block Liz Truss’s list although it is customary for outgoing Prime Ministers to designate individuals for honors.

Downing Street insiders disputed that this was an attempt to minimize publicity of Ms. Truss’s list, despite the fact that her eleven nominations, which are primarily comprised of political supporters and former aides, were announced at the same time as the list of New Year’s Honours.

“It will feel like an insult to many to see Liz Truss handing out peerages to friends and supporters after her disastrously short stint as prime minister,” said Willie Sullivan, senior director for campaigns at the Electoral Reform Society. “It will feel like an insult to many.”

“It looks like the political class dishing out rewards for failure at a time when many people are still suffering the effects from her turbulent premiership.”

In addition, the names of Conservative MP Alec Shelbrooke, a former minister of defense procurement who supported Ms. Truss’s candidacy for the leadership of the Conservative Party, are included on what her aides are referring to as a “modest” list.

The member of parliament for Elmet and Rothwell is being honored with a knighthood, and the member of parliament for Thurrock, the Tory, Jackie Doyle-Price, who has been a longtime friend of Liz Truss and who served as a business minister during her brief tenure in No. 10, is being inducted as a dame.

In recognition of her contributions to the field of mathematics education as the creator of the charitable organization Maths Anxiety Trust, novelist Shirley Conran, who is the only non-political individual on the list, is designated as a dame.

“I am delighted that these champions for the conservative causes of freedom, limited government, and a proud and sovereign Britain have been suitably honoured,” said Liz Truss, who had previously fought for the United Kingdom to remain a member of the European Union (EU) but later became a standard-bearer for the Tory right, which supports the Brexit policy.

In October of 2022, Liz Truss was compelled to step down from her position as Prime Minister due to the fact that her mini-budget caused some economic turbulence.

Rishi Sunak had been urged by both Labour and the Liberal Democrats to prevent her resignation from being honored on the list.

“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,” said Jonathan Ashworth, who is the shadow Cabinet Office minister for the Labour Party.

“Honours should be for those committed to public service, not rewards for Tory failure.”

Deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats Daisy Cooper commented: “Truss handing out gongs after blowing a hole in the public finances and leaving families reeling from spiralling mortgage costs calls this whole honours system into disrepute.”

Downing Street stated that Liz Truss’s list had been subjected to all of the customary inspections and that it had been released at the same time as the New Year’s Honours. This was due to the fact that the list had only recently been finalized.

“This is a long-standing and ongoing convention, which even predates the creation of the Labour Party,” said a source from Downing Street. “Every previous prime minister of the Labour Party has issued a Dissolution or Resignation List.”

“The convention is that the incumbent prime minister does not block the political peerage proposals of others,” the source said, adding that the plans included “dubious” former picks made by Labour.

It was stated by Hannah White, the director of the Institute for Government think tank, that resignation honors threw the entire honors system into contempt and that they ought to be eliminated.

A person being given a job for life and the ability to legislate on behalf of the country “on the say so of a single individual” was a specific issue, according to her, and the distribution of peerages was a particular difficulty.

Matthew Elliott, one of the founders of the Taxpayers Alliance, which is campaigning for lower taxes, is one of the three new peers that Liz Truss has included on her list of potential candidates. Vote Leave, the primary pro-Brexit campaign that was running during the EU referendum in 2016, had him serving as its chief executive.

Ruth Porter, who was the campaign manager for the Tory party’s leadership in the election and who also temporarily worked as the deputy chief of staff for the Prime Minister at No. 10, now holds a seat in the House of Lords.

In addition, Jon Moynihan, who served as the chairman of the Vote Leave campaign and was a former chief executive officer and chairman of PA Consulting Group, is planning to take a seat on the red benches of the Lords.

The register of financial interests of members of parliament reveals that he contributed fifty thousand pounds to the Tory leadership campaign of Ms. Truss through two distinct transactions.

Rob Butler, a member of parliament for the Conservative Party, and Suzanne Webb, a former ministerial aide, have both been awarded the title of Commander of the British Empire.

On top of that, Liz Truss has bestowed the title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) upon her former Downing Street special advisors, Sophie Jarvis and Shabbir Merali. Additionally, she has bestowed the title of Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) upon her South West Norfolk constituency party chairman, David Hills.