A number of figures involved in the honours process have spoken out to allege that the honours process has become “politicised” with pressure to appoint Tory donors and favoured candidates.
Channel 4 News revealed that Dame Louise Casey, who chairs the Community and Voluntary Service Committee responsible for deciding most of the honours, wrote to officials raising concerns last month ahead of the New Year’s Honours list due out next week.
She wrote: “It’s no secret I’ve struggled with the politicalisation of the honours and especially with the last incumbents of Number 10.
“I know balancing a demanding Number 10 with many other pressures is hard, but I also owe it to myself to say when I think something is not right.”
Baroness Casey is one of the most highly regarded independent figures in politics, having served as Victims’ Commissioner and penned influential reports into rough sleeping, community cohesion and extremism, and Metropolitan Police Service standards.
Sir Vernon Ellis, who chaired the Arts and Media Honours Committee between 2012 and 2015, told Channel 4 News that he had faced push-back from officials after refusing to approve an honour for a Tory donor he felt would bring the system “into disrepute”.
Sir Vernon said the late Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Heywood had urged him to be “pragmatic” and warned him there could be “consequences” for blocking nominations before officials decided not to replace him at the end of his three-year term.
“I don’t think there’s...
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