Rishi Sunak is facing calls to delay or cancel Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list rewarding dozens of his allies after the former prime minister was reported to police over fresh Partygate allegations.
Labour and the Lib Dems said Sunak should pull the list of about 50 names, which is thought to be nearing approval and could be published within two weeks.
Some Conservatives are also privately baffled as to why Sunak would be willing to go ahead with the list. It is set to cause the prime minister a headache because it would hand peerages to three MPs – Nadine Dorries, Alok Sharma and Nigel Adams – and trigger potentially difficult byelections.
The prospect of more honours for Johnson’s allies will now be even more controversial after the Cabinet Office passed his pandemic diaries to two police forces over concerns about more potential rule-breaches during Covid.
The documents outlining around a dozen events at both the prime minister’s grace-and-favour mansion, Chequers, and No 10, between June 2020 and May 2021, were provided by Johnson to his government-appointed lawyers. However, the Cabinet Office, which paid for the lawyers, also received the diaries and officials then decided that under the civil service code, they should refer the matter to the police.
Johnson has severed ties with government lawyers supporting him during the Covid inquiry, with allies saying he had “lost faith” in the system.
His critics said Sunak and Johnson should now abandon plans for a resignation honours list, with a string of reports about names submitted including party donors, aides and at one point even a proposed knighthood for his father, Stanley Johnson.
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said it was impossible for the list to go ahead now Johnson is facing fresh accusations.
“With the disgraced former prime minister now facing new allegations and under multiple investigations, there should be no question of Rishi Sunak approving honours for his cronies and cheerleaders.
“The prime minister should refuse to do Boris Johnson’s bidding and make it clear that he will reject these demands.
“His top priority right now should be tackling the cost of living crisis facing ordinary people, not handing out more rewards for 13 years of Tory failure.”
The Liberal Democrat chief whip, Wendy Chamberlain, said: “The days of exiting prime ministers nominating peers should be left in the past, particularly when they leave under a cloud of scandal like Boris Johnson. At the very least, Rishi Sunak must step in and delay this list while Johnson is under police investigation.”
Chris Bryant, the chair of the House of Commons standards committee, also said the idea of a resignation honours list was “completely inappropriate” while the former prime minister is facing fresh allegations about rule-breaking at Chequers.
Johnson is still being investigated by the House of Commons privileges committee, which is looking into whether he misled parliament by providing reassurances that all Covid rules and guidelines were followed in No 10.
One Conservative MP said it “does not make sense” for the prime minister to let Johnson give peerages to Dorries, Sharma and Adams, when it was going to cause him so much trouble, and it would be “a nightmare” for Conservative party headquarters to have to spend time and money on byelections.
However, others said the furore around Johnson was having little cut-through this time because he is no longer relevant. Tobias Ellwood, a Conservative MP and previous critic of Johnson, said: “I don’t think it’s gaining traction because there is momentum behind Rishi Sunak as we enter a calm and measured period of British politics after the turbulence of the last couple of years. It is being placed in perspective. There is some noise but the absolute majority of MPs are focused on getting back to what we do well and supporting statecraft in No 10.”
The party has embarked on a furious round of fundraising in recent months, with Mohamed Mansour, a billionaire former minister in Egypt’s Mubarak government and a senior treasurer to the Tories, this week handing over £5m towards its election efforts – its biggest one-off donation for more than 20 years. Many former treasurers of the Conservatives have subsequently been given honours, but this tends to happen after they leave office. His spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment on whether he was being lined up for a peerage, but No 10 said it was not the case.
No 10 sources have previously suggested that Sunak thinks it fair for Johnson to get his own list. Liz Truss, who was only prime minister for a matter of weeks, is also set to get one after Johnson’s has been settled.
Earlier on Wednesday, Downing Street denied Johnson is the victim of a politically motivated stitch-up, after his allies reacted with fury to news of the latest police involvement in Partygate allegations.
No 10 stressed Sunak had no involvement in the decision to hand over Johnson’s pandemic diaries, saying they had “not seen the information or material in question”, adding that ministers had “no involvement in this process and were only made aware after the police had been contacted”.
Johnson said he was currently “unrepresented” in relation to the Covid inquiry and in the process of instructing new solicitors. While Johnson is confident taxpayers will continue picking up the bill for his new legal team, he admitted in a letter to the Covid inquiry published on Monday that the Cabinet Office had yet to “agree funding and other practical arrangements”.
However, the decision to engage his own lawyers has sparked concerns the bill for taxpayers will be significantly higher. Tory MPs suggested his decision to shun support from the government legal department meant he should face a cap on the cost incurred by instructing a new solicitor’s firm.
