The Liberal Democrats have said Boris Johnson should be barred from handing out knighthoods, peerages and other honours when he steps down as Prime Minister.
The party’s Chief Whip, Wendy Chamberlain, has written to the chairs of the House of Lords Appointments Commission and the Cabinet Office Honours Committee urging them to reject Johnson’s resignation honours list if he puts one forward.
It comes after recent reports Boris Johnson has promised knighthoods and peerages to Conservative MPs to persuade them not to hand in their letters of no confidence to the 1922 committee.
Liberal Democrat Chief Whip Wendy Chamberlain MP said: “Boris Johnson should have already left Number 10. Instead he’s promising people knighthoods and honours in a desperate attempt to cling on to power.
“A Prime Minister forced from office by his own lies and law-breaking shouldn’t be allowed to hand out honours to his friends on the way out. Allowing him to get away with this would make a mockery of Parliament and continue to sow distrust in our political system.
“There should be no resignation honours list for Johnson and he should be barred from ever getting a seat in the House of Lords. Anything less is an insult to all those who followed the rules whilst Number 10 partied.”
Local Liberal Democrat Councillor Sam Al-Hamdani said: “We can all remember how difficult it was under lockdown restrictions – not least for people who had relatives in care homes or similar. It makes a mockery of everything that people went through that he has got away with this for so long, and allowing him to reward his mates at the end would just be one final insult to everyone.”