Former British Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called for his own father, Stanley Johnson, to be knighted, The Times daily reported on Monday, infuriating the opposition.
When they leave Downing Street, British heads of government draw up an “honours list”, with the names of the people they wish to see ennobled. This list is then studied by a government committee and then by Downing Street.
According to “The Times”, the list of Boris Johnson, who left the government in September, forced to resign after a series of scandals, has a hundred names. It would thus be much longer than that of its predecessors Theresa May and David Cameron, which featured around sixty people.
The information, which has not been confirmed by either Boris Johnson’s entourage or the government, has fueled accusations of nepotism regularly targeting the ruling Conservative Party and in particular the former leader, whose press regularly mentions attempts to return to power.
She greatly angered opposition Labor leader Keir Starmer. “It’s ridiculous,” he said on LBC radio. “Ex-Prime Minister bestows honors on father – for what service?”
“It’s classic from a man like Johnson. I think for the public, it’s just absolutely outrageous, ”criticized Keir Starmer.
The presence in this list of Stanley Johnson is all the more shocking since, as “The Times” mentions, he was accused of sexual harassment and also domestic violence against Boris Johnson’s mother in the years 1970.
This former member of the European Parliament, who became pro-Brexit, obtained French nationality in May 2022.
In 2020, Boris Johnson, then Prime Minister, had already appointed his brother Jo to sit in the House of Lords, the upper house of the British Parliament.