The 2015 Dissolution Peerages have been announced today, following much rumour about who might receive one. While Mr S’s colleague Sebastian Payne has the full list over on Coffee House, it’s safe to say the appointments haven’t done much to improve public opinion of the honours system; former spads and out-of-work politicians make up a large chunk of the list.
But then again, what did people expect from the man who awarded his barber Claudio Carbosiero an MBE last year for ‘services to hairdressing’? Mr S has compiled a list of the most intriguing appointments from the Cameron camp:
1. As expected — and to the dismay of cybernats everywhere — Michelle Mone — the founder of Ultimo lingerie — has been awarded a peerage. The ardent unionist’s appointment comes after strong opposition in Scotland, with Douglas Anderson — of Glasgow tool company GAP Group — writing to David Cameron warning that her business credentials were lacking, making her appointment ‘ludicrous’. Business aside, let’s just hope she has more luck staying awake in the House of Lords on her next trip than she has had on previous visits:
2. Cameron has awarded a CBE to his former deputy chief of staff Oliver Dowden as well as a peerage for his current deputy chief of staff Catherine Fall. He has also awarded honours to his former spokesman Jean-Christophe Gray and his political secretary Laurence Mann. In fact, there are so many honours flying around that he’s even found one for his former speechwriter Clare Foges. Foges marked her exit from the role with a blistering Times editorial criticising the Bedroom Tax. Happily, the PM appears to have been able to put this slight aside, awarding her an OBE for public service, at the mere age of 33.
3. It’s a good time to be a constituency manager, so long as you work in either Cameron or Osborne’s constituency. Caroline Balcon, the manager for Witney, has been awarded an OBE for political service, while Phillipa Rudkin –- the constituency manager for Tatton — has been given an MBE for political service.
4. George Osborne is getting in on the action too. Osborne’s special adviser Ramesh Chhabra, has been awarded an OBE for public service. Chhabra has spent the majority of his career working as a media adviser to varying Tories. The closest he has ever got to dabbling in frontline politics was an unsuccessful attempt to become a councillor in Kingston upon Hull.
5. What’s more, Osborne’s former Chief of Staff Rupert Harrison has been awarded a CBE for public service. The former Eton head boy attended Magdalen College — the same Oxford college that Osborne attended – before ascending to the corridors of power. He left his post earlier this year to take up a job at a US fund management group, presumably safe in the knowledge that he had successfully completed his public service at his old 90k per annum job.
6. Cameron has also spared a thought for the staff in lower quarters. British Empire Medals are to be awarded to two 10 Downing Street catering assistants — Alison Depass and Marjorie Wallace — as well as the Number 10 gardener Paul Schooling. All in the name of ‘public service’, natch.
In total, 16 of David Cameron’s staff have been awarded honours, as well as three for Osborne’s boys. Substitute ‘public service’ with ‘service for Cameron or Osborne’ and the awards will start to make more sense.
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