Priti Patel is made a dame and Jacob Rees-Mogg is knighted, as seven former colleagues are nominated for peerages.
Image source, Getty ImagesSome of Boris Johnson’s closest allies – including Priti Patel and Jacob Rees-Mogg – have been rewarded with peerages and other awards in the former PM’s honours list.
Former secretaries of state Simon Clarke and Mr Rees-Mogg were knighted, while Ms Patel was made a dame.
Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen and London Assembly member Shaun Bailey are among seven new peers.
No serving MPs were given peerages, avoiding by-elections for the Tories.
Former Conservative minister Nadine Dorries was not put forward for the House of Lords, despite speculation she would be on the published list.
Ms Dorries – who served as culture secretary under Mr Johnson – stood down as an MP “with immediate effect” an hour before the honours list was released.
The long-awaited list, approved nine months after Mr Johnson resigned as prime minister, included 38 honours and seven peerages.
Kulveer Singh Ranger, a former director of transport while Mr Johnson was London mayor, and former Downing Street chief of staff Dan Rosenfield are also among those who will enter the Lords.
Charlotte Owen, a former adviser to Mr Johnson, will become one of the youngest peers, as will fellow advisers Ben Gascoigne and Ross Kempsell.
CBEs and OBEs were handed out to some of Mr Johnson’s closest advisers during his premiership, including two former directors of communications, Jack Doyle and Guto Harri.
Among those to receive honours were aides who served with Mr Johnson during the scandal over lockdown parties in Downing Street during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Martin Reynolds, Mr Johnson’s former principal private secretary, was awarded the Order of Bath.
In May 2020, Mr Reynolds sent an invite to a “bring your own booze” party to Downing Street staff when the nation was under lockdown.
Ben Elliot, the former co-chair of the Conservative Party, has also been awarded a knighthood, as have Tory MPs Michael Fabricant and Conor Burns, two Mr Johnson loyalists.
Rishi Sunak has approved Mr Johnson’s resignation honours list and “forwarded it unamended” to King Charles, the prime minister’s press secretary said.
“He had no involvement or input into the approved list,” the press secretary said.
A formerly loyal aide to Mr Johnson branded the honours list “an utter disgrace”, telling the BBC it was “rewards for failure all round”.
They said: “Boris has slammed the door shut on the prospect of any return to the frontline of British politics and trashed what remained of his legacy.”
Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, said it was “shameful” that Mr Sunak had “failed to stand up to his former boss’s outrageous demands and agreed to hand out prizes to this carousel of cronies”.
“He promised integrity, but this weak prime minister is once again showing his appalling judgement by doing Boris Johnson’s bidding,” Ms Rayner said.
And Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper said: “Boris Johnson has been allowed to hand out gongs to his partygate pals, and Rishi Sunak has just waved it through.”