Government departments have been asked by Downing Street to urgently identify and put together honours nominations to reward “unity and defiance” to this month’s riots. Guido can reveal that Starmer has instructed civil servants to find “community leaders” who “made sure targeted groups felt safe” and members of the public who showed “community spirit.” Departments are also told to consider public sector workers who went “above and beyond” in their response to the unrest. The latest in the PM’s project to fill his “societal black hole”…
Extraordinarily, departments were only informed of this “urgent commission” yesterday with a deadline to submit nominator forms by… Friday 30th August. Permanent Secretaries will then take this weekend to submit finalised nominations by Monday 2nd September. Civil servants have been told that the process is on “extremely tight timescales” and that “Citations are not expected to be as detailed as usual, given the time frame.” Reducing the usual timeline for background checks for nominations…
This suggests the civil service is in a massive rush to get the list sorted in time for the upcoming New Year Honours. The usual selection process takes 12 to 18 months – this has been given 3 days. Hardly enough time to follow due process. One sceptical Westminster insider says: “Typical – Starmer has created a two-tier honours system, rushing it through for political advantage, the King could end up handing a gong to a wife-beater”.
UPDATE: The Cabinet Office says anyone can nominate someone for an honour at any time. Not at the specific request of Starmer to Permanent Secretaries with a 3-day deadline, though…
After being blocked from standing at the Gorton and Denton by-election, Andy Burnham said at the Centre for Social Justice:
“I’m very much focussing on my job. I’ve said everything I think I’m going to say about that.”