Boris Johnson has not “earned the right” to be awarded a knighthood once he leaves Downing Street, Sir Keir Starmer has said.
Asked if the prime minister should be given an honour in the future, like Tony Blair, the Labour leader said: “No, I am sorry, I don’t think that this prime minister has earned the right to have an honour.
“I do think Tony Blair has.”
Sir Tony, who was in office from 1997 to 2007, was appointed as a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, the oldest and most senior British Order of Chivalry, in the New Year’s Honours.
The honour from the Queen has regularly been given to former occupants of Number 10, including most recently Sir John Major, who was PM from 1990 to 1997.
But some were critical of the award, citing the legacy of his decision to join the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 – based largely around the false belief that the regime of Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction – as rendering him unsuitable for a knighthood.
A petition on Change.org calling for the honour to be rescinded has passed 500,000 signatures.
The current Labour leader has himself already been knighted, in 2014, for “services to law and criminal justice” following his time as Director of Public Prosecutions.
Sir Keir ‘confident but not complacent about task ahead’
Sir Keir’s backing of Sir Tony came after he set out his new “contract with the British people” and his vision for a Labour government during a speech in Birmingham.
He said this would be a “solemn agreement about what this country needs and how a good government should conduct itself”.
“I am well aware that just because the Tories lose the public’s trust it doesn’t mean Labour simply inherits it. Trust has to be earned,” said Sir Keir, who became Labour leader in 2020.
“I am confident but not complacent about the task ahead.”
Sir Keir promised “straight leadership”…
Source : skynews
