Like all former British Prime Ministers, Boris Johnson can nominate new members of the House of Lords or nominate them for royal honours. A little over nine months after the 58-year-old’s resignation is now his “Prime Minister’s Resignation Honors List” been published: Johnson rewards several confidants and employees from the “Partygate” affair with seats in the House of Lords and royal honors.
Johnson’s former chief of staff Dan Rosenfield and former London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey will be appointed to the upper house. What caused a stir, however, was that political friends such as ex-business secretary and arch-Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg and ex-home secretary Priti Patel will in future bear honorary titles as sir and lady respectively.
Johnson’s former office boss Martin Reynolds, who hosted an illegal lockdown party at Downing Street, also gets a royal title. His once close colleague Shelley Williams-Walker, who DJed at a Corona party on the eve of Queen Consort Prince Philip’s funeral, becomes a lady.
The opposition criticized Johnson for abusing the tradition of appointments and honors for nepotism. Former employees of Johnson were also outraged. There is no upper limit for the House of Lords. With around 800 members, it is the largest parliamentary chamber in the world after the Chinese People’s Congress.