meIf nothing became Boris Johnson more than the way he left No 10, nothing says more about the political rot he accelerated than the list of honors he leaves behind and his announcement on Friday night that he was leaving parliament after being informed that he faces an ignominious suspension. .
To scan the list that was perhaps his last act in front-line politics is to relive the era of cronyism and mismanagement he inflicted on the country. He redefined the very idea of honors as a reward for public service, replacing them with the kind of cheap favor you pay friends by buying them a hat by the sea or a round at the pub.
Priti Patel, who took the Tory hostile environment badge of shame and wore it as a badge of honour, who as Home Secretary presided over a demotion of the police that has become a crisis of public confidence, becomes a lady. Jacob Rees-Mogg, leading apologist for the chaos and shortcomings of Johnson’s years in government, is knighted.
Amid the ongoing search for answers as to why his administration’s response to Covid was so poor, Johnson presents a list containing honors and preferences for some of his aides who allegedly joined him at No 10 by ignoring the safety rules they had imposed on the rest of the population. If they partied then, they will party even more now.
A lady for the bow Brexiteer Andrea Marie Jenkyns, Tory MP, former assistant whip, under-secretary for skills and Johnson enthusiast. What exceptional form does his public service to our democracy take to see it distinguished by an honor?
Last year as Education Minister, her response to a group exercising their right to protest outside Number 10 was to show them the middle finger. she shed a tear since Johnson resigned. You will feel much better now.
A knighthood for Michael Fabricant, another disciple of Johnson’s religion, who was the administration’s equivalent of Comical Ali, Saddam Hussein’s much-mocked and deluded information minister, who was always ready to challenge the facts with alternative narratives.
Fabricant deserves his elevation just for the effort he put in to save Johnson from the disgrace of Partygate. “They were people who had been working 18-hour days and one thing about Boris, if he has a fault, is that he is too loyal to the people who work around him, and he understood how stressed and tired they were.” he said at the time. Johnson is loyal, until he isn’t.
He was furious as he announced his resignation, calling out those who could blame him for his behavior. In assessing their standing, many will look over their roll of honors in the coming days and the question they should ask themselves is this: did all these people serve the public or serve too much progress and Boris Johnson’s interests? Any cursory examination of his time in office will show that the two imperatives were not the same.
We will soon find out why his father Stanley did not make the list, although it is extensive speculation that it might. And we can be relieved that Nadine Dorries, who rose through the Johnson administration without anyone but him ever knowing what her intrinsic value to public administration was, was also omitted. Relieved that – with “immediate effect” – she has resigned as deputy.
He joins her in exile, her epitaph is a disheartening list, a lousy list. But it’s his list, and all of him.
