A Tory peer has called on Rishi Sunak to block Liz Truss’s resignation honours list.
The former prime minister is set to hand out gongs to 14 of her closest supporters despite only being in the job for 49 days.
It has been reported that at least two people have turned down honours from her because she was in office for such a short time.
Among those said to be on the list currently being assessed by the House of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC) are Tory donor Sir Jon Moynihan and Ruth Porter, who was Truss’s deputy chief of staff in Number 10.
Tory peer Lord Cormack today it was “absurd to think that somebody who was in office for such a short space of time ... should be able to dole out honours to people”.
“What can they have done in the 40 days and 40 nights that she was in No. 10 to be worthy of honours,” he told Radio Four’s World at One programme.
“I think it brings the whole system into disrepute. I know it places the prime minister in an awkward situation, and I’m very sorry for him. But I think he should say no, and he could easily say that he’s not going to have one either, however long he serves.”
He added: “It would be complete nonsense – and, frankly, an insult to the nation – for her to have a list after such an ignominious period in No. 10.”
The row comes just weeks after the controversy which surrounded the resignation honours list of Truss’s predecessor, Boris Johnson.
He gave knighthoods to several close allies, including Jacob Rees-Mogg, Simon Clarke, Priti Patel and Conor Burns, as well as peerages to his press spokesman, Ross Kempsell, and former adviser Charlotte Owen, who became the youngest ever life peer when she took up her seat in the Lords last month.