Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg has attacked critics of Liz Truss’ honours list, calling them “po-faced puritans”.
The former prime minister was allowed to submit her so-called “resignation honours” after leaving office last year – a convention given to all departing leaders – and the final 11 names were announced on Friday.
But the decision has been heavily criticised due to the circumstances around Ms Truss’ exit, whose disastrous mini-budget saw her ousted from Number 10 after just 49 days.
Read more: What 2024 could have in store for UK politics
Labour called it “a slap in the face to working people who are paying the price of the Tories crashing the economy”, while the Liberal Democrats said it was “a shameless move to reward Liz Truss’s car crash cronies… matched only by [Rishi] Sunak’s weakness in failing to block it”.
The Electoral Reform Society’s Dr Jess Garland also told Sky News it was a “convention that has really got out of control” with more unelected politicians in parliament now than elected ones, and appealed to whoever was next in government to “grab this by the horns” and change the system.
But Sir Jacob, who served as Ms Truss’ business secretary during her short tenure and was knighted in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours, said it was “the right” of a former prime minister to make the nominations, and it was “a reasonable way to allow her to thank those who have helped her to serve in the highest elected office in the land”.
Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg was made a knight as part of Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list
He told Sky News: “Prime ministers, of all parties, need support that goes well beyond a 9 to 5 job and those who support them are trying their best to fulfil the democratic mandate held by all PMs.
“Honours have long oiled our political system and cost nothing so it is hard to see what the harm is except it upsets the po-faced puritans.”
The now backbench Tory MP…
More information about this article Read More
Source: news.sky.com
This notice was published: 2023-12-30 12:46:00
Sky News is a British 24-hour information television channel, the first in Europe of its kind, launched on February 5, 1989 by the British Sky Broadcasting Company.