Rishi Sunak facing new headache with Tories on the brink of TWO devastating by-elections
Rishi Sunak is set to accept Boris Johnson’s honours list within weeks in a move that is expected to trigger two by-elections
PA
Rishi Sunak is set to accept Boris Johnson’s honours list within weeks in a move that is expected to trigger two by-elections.
The Prime Minister will reportedly accept Johnson’s 50-person resignation honours list in the hope of drawing a close to tensions between them.
Nadine Dorries, former culture secretary and Alok Sharma, the former Cop26 president are both expected to stand down to take peerages, leading to by-elections in the autumn.
In another blow for the Tories, Sharma’s seat in Reading West is particularly vulnerable with a majority of just 4,117.
The Prime Minister will reportedly accept Johnson’s 50-person resignation honours list in the hope of drawing a close to tensions between them
PA
In comparison, Dorries’s seat in Mid-Bedfordshire is traditionally a safe Tory seat with a 24,664 majority, but even that could be at risk if there is a big swing to Labour.
Both former minister Nigel Adams and Alister Jack, the current Scotland Secretary, are expected to be included in the list but will stay on as MPs until the end of this parliament.
According to one Whitehall source quoted in The Times, the list is expected to be published within the next fortnight, while another said it would be before the summer recess in July.
The source added that Sunak is keen to “clear the decks” and move on.
Former prime minister Johnson has no spoken to Suank directly regarding the list, but has held discussions with a seniors in No10 about the delayed publication of his resignation honours.
Concerns have grown that Sunak would reject the list but he is said to have accepted the precedent that outgoing prime ministers should be entitled to make appointments.
Lord McFall of Alcluith, the lord speaker, has warned that the honours system may no longer be “fit for purpose” due to the number of peers appointed by successive prime ministers on leaving office.
Johnson initially put forward four Tory MPs for peerages — Jack, Dorries, Adams and Sharma.
Alister Jack, the current Scotland Secretary is expected to be included in the list but will stay on as an MP until the end of this parliament
PA
It was expected that the MPs would continue until the next election and then join the upper chamber.
However, the House of Lords appointments commission (Holac) has advised the Cabinet Office that doing so would be constitutionally improper.
This means that the MPs will have to stand down if they wish to take up a peerage.
According to The Times, Dorries and Sharma are likely to do so, but Adams has described claims he will stand down early as “utter bollocks” and will not resign until the next election, similarly Jack will also wait.​