UK
Liz Truss accused of compiling ‘list of shame’ after reports she will nominate four close backers for peerages
Liz Truss has been accused of compiling a “list of shame” following reports the ex-prime minister is set to nominate four close supporters for peerages.
Former residents of Number 10 are entitled to put forward people for a seat in the House of Lords as part of their resignation honours.
But Rishi Sunak is facing calls to block his predecessor’s picks, with her disastrous mini-budget that sent the pound plummeting having led to her leaving the job after just 49 days.
It made her the shortest serving prime minister in British political history.
According to The Sun and i newspapers, one of Ms Truss‘s nominations is Tory donor Jon Moynihan.
He donated more than £50,000 to her leadership campaign last year, the register of MPs’ financial interests shows.
The other nominees, according to the papers, are ex-Vote Leave chief executive Matthew Elliot, aide Ruth Porter and think tank boss Mark Littlewood, whose Institute of Economic Affairs backed the mini-budget.
Mr Elliott supported Brexit and was involved in founding the Taxpayers’ Alliance, which lobbies for lower taxes.
Ms Porter helped spearhead Ms Truss’s leadership bid before briefly serving as her deputy chief of staff.
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Why did the weak pound matter after mini-budget fallout?
PM ‘must block these honours’
A spokesman for the former prime minister said he could not comment on who was among the nominations, which Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner described as a “list of shame”.
Ms Rayner said Ms Truss and her short-lived chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, had taken a “wrecking ball to the economy” and demanded the nominations be stopped.
Labour has already called on Ms Truss to decline an annual allowance of up to £115,000 given to former prime ministers to help them fund their public duties.
Ms Rayner’s call was echoed by the Liberal Democrats, which said Mr Sunak “must block these honours”.
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Rishi Sunak has declined to apologise for the chaos caused by Liz Truss’s mini budget
Johnson’s nominees to come first
The publication of Ms Truss’s honours recommendations is not expected imminently, as those of Boris Johnson are being dealt with first.
He has reportedly put his father forward for a knighthood.
Mr Sunak has been told by opposition parties to block those resignation peerages too.
There will also be honours to mark the King’s coronation on 6 May.