Liz Truss nominates 14 people for her resignation honours list after just 49 days as Prime Minister last year… but snubs her former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng
- Former PM has nominated four people for life peerages and 12 for other honours
- The list is the equivalent of one name for every three-and-a-half-days in office
Liz Truss has nominated 14 people for her resignation honours list – but has not included her former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng.
The short-lived prime minister – now considered a torchbearer for the Tory right on the backbenches – served for just 49 days in No 10 last autumn.
Yet she has nominated four people for life peerages and 12 for honours such as knighthoods, damehoods, OBEs, CBEs and MBEs. It is the equivalent of one name for every three-and-a-half days she was in Downing Street.
Two people have reportedly turned down her offer, according to The Times, with one saying they felt it would be ‘humiliating’ to receive an honour, while another felt they didn’t deserve it.
The nominated life peers include Sir Jon Moynihan, a venture capitalist who chaired her leadership campaign, and Matthew Elliott, who ran the Brexit campaign in 2016.
Ruth Porter, Ms Truss’s deputy chief of staff in No 10, and Mark Littlewood, the outgoing head of think tank Institute of Economic Affairs, are also thought to be on the list.
Liz Truss has nominated 14 people for her resignation honours list
There does not appear to have been any space for Kwasi Kwarteng, who helped devise the now infamous mini-budget in October 2022
But there does not appear to have been any space for Mr Kwarteng, who helped devise the now infamous mini-budget in October 2022 which marked the start of Ms Truss’s downfall.
The former prime minister is also set to nominate a ‘handful’ of local heroes in her South West Norfolk constituency to round off the list, which is currently being vetted by the House of Lords appointments commission.
Opposition politicians have called for her nominations to be blocked since Ms Truss submitted the list several months ago.
Labour former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said last night: ‘It’s outrageous that Liz Truss gets an honours list… and will shamelessly dish out completely undeserved honours to her friends.’
Ex-Labour frontbencher Charlotte Nichols added: ‘I can’t decide if it’s more cringe for Liz Truss to have resignation honours, or for anyone to actually accept one in these circumstances?’
In June, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak approved the resignation honours list of Ms Truss’s predecessor, Boris Johnson, which contained over 40 awards.