Britain: former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson rewards his Brexit allies

The "list of honours" of former British Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson was published on Friday, June 9, with distinctions granted to his Brexit allies, a hairdresser, but not to his father.

After leaving Downing Street, British heads of government draw up a "roll of honours", with the names of the people they wish to see knighted or elevated to the House of Lords. This list was then studied by a government committee and then by Downing Street.

Controversy in March

Boris Johnson left the government in September forced to resign after a series of scandals, including that of "partygate", these parties organized in Downing Street during the pandemic and confinement. Boris Johnson's list was controversial in March, the former head of government having requested, according to the daily The Times, that his own father, Stanley Johnson, be ennobled. Finally, the latter does not appear in the list.

On the other hand, Priti Patel, former Home Secretary and loyal to Boris Johnson for Brexit, becomes "Dame". Jacob Rees-Mogg, leader of a group of very Eurosceptic Conservative MPs, becomes "Sir". Kelly Dodge, a hairdresser in Parliament, is on the list of awards for advisers, speechwriters and personal assistants. Shaun Bailey, a former Conservative candidate for mayor of London, who has been accused of breaching social distancing rules during the pandemic, is among those raised in the House of Lords, the upper house of the British Parliament made up of unelected parliamentarians.

United Kingdom: relatives of "BoJo" denounce a conspiracy in the investigation into Partygate

On the other hand, despite speculation, Nadine Dorries, Boris Johnson's former culture minister, and Alok Sharma, president of COP26 in 2021, the United Nations climate change conference, are absent from the list. They were expected to enter the House of Lords, which would have led to a tricky by-election since they would have had to resign from their seats in the lower house of the Commons. But Nadine Dorries announced Friday that she was resigning with immediate effect, putting Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in front of an electoral test that promises to be difficult at a time when the Conservatives are at their lowest in the polls, after 13 years in power.