Boris Johnson: former PM accuses Rishi Sunak of ‘talking rubbish’ over honours list row

Boris Johnson has accused Rishi Sunak of ‘talking rubbish’ in an increasingly bitter row between the former and current Prime Ministers over Johnson’s resignation honours list.

Earlier, Sunak said his former boss had asked him to do something he “wasn’t prepared to do” - namely override the recommendations of a House of Lords committee responsible for vetting peerages - and if people didn’t like it, “then tough”.

What’s this about?

In recent years, departing Prime Ministers have put forward nominations for honours including peerages, knighthoods and damehoods. These then have to go through a formal approval process to ensure they’re appropriate. The system has been widely criticised for rewarding loyalty or, in some cases, party financial support rather than merit.

After months of speculation about who Johnson would nominate, his honours list was published on Friday (9 June). It included long-standing Johnson supporter Jacob Rees-Mogg and former Home Secretary Priti Patel - but former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, who was expected to get a peerage, was left off the list.

As a result, the 66-year-old announced she would resign from the Commons with immediate effect. Tory MP Nigel Adams, who also missed out on any honour, confirmed his own resignation from Parliament on Saturday (10 June).

One anonymous ally of Johnson accused Sunak of having “secretly blocked” the peerages of Dorries and others. Downing Street denies interfering in Johnson’s list or taking names off it. But the House of Lords Appointments Commission (Holac) - which vets all new possible peerages - confirmed it didn’t support eight of the nominees put forward. It didn’t say who they were.

What did Sunak say?

Taking questions at the London Tech week conference this morning, Sunak said: “Boris Johnson asked me to do something that I wasn’t prepared to do, because I didn’t think it was right”.

“That was to either overrule the Holac committee or to make promises for people. Now, I wasn’t prepared to do that. I didn’t think it was right and if people don’t like that, then tough”.

How did Johnson respond?

In a statement, Johnson said: “Rishi Sunak is talking rubbish. To honour these peerages it was not necessary to overrule Holac – but simply to ask them to renew their vetting, which was a mere formality”.

What about the Partygate investigation?

MPs investigating whether Boris Johnson misled Parliament over lockdown-breaking gatherings at Downing Street are meeting today to finalise their report. It’s due to be published in the coming days.

The committee gave Johnson its preliminary findings in advance so he’d have a chance to respond before it was released. The MPs reportedly recommended he should be suspended from the House of Commons for 10 days.

Crucially, this would have triggered a so-called recall petition in his Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency - and if enough people signed it, a by-election.

In a statement on Friday night (9 June), Johnson called the committee - chaired by Labour MP Harriet Harman - a “kangeroo court” and suggested it was trying to drive him “out of Parliament” partly in revenge for delivering Brexit. He said he would step down as an MP as a result.

Johnson went on: “It is very sad to be leaving Parliament, at least for now, but above all I am bewildered and appalled that I can be forced out, anti-democratically, by a committee chaired and managed, by Harriet Harman, with such egregious bias”.

What has the Privileges Committee said?

The committee has rejected any allegations of bias. A spokesman said: “The committee has followed the procedures and the mandate of the House at all times and will continue to do so”.

“Mr Johnson has departed from the processes of the House and has impugned the integrity of the House by his statement”.