Boris Johnson’s Honours List: Corrupt Cronyism Without Consequence

Last week, just as the government quietly slipped out news of their abandonment of care homes - the Honours list arrived and the British establishment media created the necessary frenzy to keep the latest care homes scandal off the front pages. 

I think we need to mention this, because I can’t see the media saying all that much about it, but just 5 years ago, Boris Johnson was calling for a "Dignitas approach" to reducing the number of peers in the House of Lords, condemning the "completely out of control" size of the upper chamber. 

Johnson, who was Mayor of London at the time and was taking part in a monthly phone-in show with LBC radio, described Members of The Lords as "geezers" who "take the money and they don't do much”. He went on to say he would like to see the number of legislators in the Lords more than halved to around 400. 

This wasn’t the only time. In fact, you only have to go back to December 2019, just days after the General Election and you will find Johnson’s government were eyeing radical plans to reform the House of Lords. It was reported Johnson’s aides were examining the parliament’s upper chambers functions, and how they could reduce the overall number of members. 

This is a Prime Minister with serious form for being utterly dishonest, reckless, unaccountable, and he will say anything to please anyone, if it gets him out of the big hole he constantly finds himself in. 

Now we find out that anti-Lords Johnson has added THIRTY SIX new peers, which reads more like the Johnson-Symonds Christmas card list than a group of noble men and women that deserve recognition for their outstanding contributions. 

The cronyism is blatant. The corruption is without challenge. The House of Lords no longer serves any purpose beyond a museum. 

I am all in favour of recognising outstanding achievements. Paralympic heroes, the community champions, the little old lady that campaigned to keep her post office open, the little boy that’s raised thousands for good causes: these are the people we should be honouring, not the newspaper owners, or the Ian Austin’s, the Philip May’s, and definitely not the Prime Ministers brother. Whoever thought this was a good idea? 

What about Claire Fox? Are they completely out of their minds? Surely this is Johnson just flicking two fingers at all of us who don’t think we should just “Calm down about child abuse”?

Darren Hughes is the chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society, who are in favour of the abolition of the House of Lords, said: 

“By appointing a host of ex-MPs, party loyalists and his own brother, the PM is inviting total derision. That he can get away with it shows what a private member’s club this house is.” 

And Mr Hughes is absolutely right. 

This is a case of the privileged, handing further privileges, to the already privileged. 

The Conservative Government now have more powers at their disposal than any other government that I can remember. This is deeply worrying. 

The media offer very little accountability. How can they when they’re being awarded peerages themselves? Independent media offer the only challenge. The state funded broadcaster abandoned all attempts at impartiality a long time ago, and a majority of the press is owned by billionaires who up until recently were absolutely terrified of a marrow growing pensioner from North London. This is deeply worrying. 

And Her Majesty’s Official Opposition? They can keep sitting on the fence, offering lukewarm support for Johnson’s next failure, but eventually, they’ll fall off, and it will not be a comfortable landing. We have never needed a powerful functioning opposition as much as what we do right now, instead we got Rachel ‘tougher than the Tories on benefits’ Reeves, Liz 4% Kendal, Annelise someone or another, and Sir Keir himself, who still isn’t 20 points ahead in the polls, like his supporters promised, time and time again. 

Don’t worry Keir lad, only another 28 points to go. 

 

 

So there you have it. A government handing out honours, here, there and everywhere, Tory donors included, despite Johnson wanting a “dignitas” approach to the House of Lords, and the condemnation for this blatant cronyism is minimal, in fact, they would rather you worry about Russian hackers and Jeremy 007 Corbyn. 

Can you even begin to imagine the next batch of cronies? That weasel Tommy Robinson must fancy his chances of a bonus £320 a day. 

This latest list of peerages just goes to show Boris Johnson’s contempt for the ordinary people he claims to represent. The unelected second chamber that is more than EIGHT times the size of the US Senate. 

This gravy train needs derailing. The House of Lords is wholly unaccountable to the British people. 

The average peer claims £25,800 in expenses every year, but a single person having to get by on Universal Credit will get just £4,920 over the same period of time. 

Five years of Universal Credit is just one year of peers expenses.

Is this fair? Absolutely not. 

The establishment will continue to promote from within. The corruption is nauseating. The cronyism is so blatant. 

But this is a government that got away with telling you the Prime Minister’s chief adviser was simply testing his eyesight, when he breached the lockdown regulations that millions of us managed to adhere to, making many sacrifices along the way. 

The honours list is the confirmation we needed of the Johnson government not caring what you think, they know they can get away with pretty much anything, so why would they? 

Now is the time to question everything and everyone, more than ever. Independent media such as Byline, The Canary, Skwawkbox and Novara will shine a light in some pretty dark places over the coming months and years, it’s up to us, and our activism, to support them, every step of the way. 

Take care folks, solidarity as always. 

Rachael 

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