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Cronyism claims as at least seven Tory donors
included in honours list
John Griffin, who gave £3m, and Tim Martin, who backed
Vote Leave, among donors to receive knighthoods
Amanda Blanc and Mary Portas among business figures in
list
Rowena
Mason Whitehall editor
Fri 29 Dec
2023 22.30 GMT
Rishi Sunak
is facing accusations of cronyism after at least seven Conservative donors were
given honours in the new year list of awards, including knighthoods for the
taxi firm founder John Griffin and the Wetherspoon’s boss Tim Martin.
Griffin,
the founder of Addison Lee, has given £3m to the Conservatives and is knighted
for services to industry and charity. Martin, who donated £400,000 to the Vote
Leave campaign and £50,000 to the Tories in the 2019 election, is knighted for
services to hospitality and culture. More recently, Martin has given £25,000 to
Nigel Farage’s Reform party.
Other
donors to get awards include Ron Dennis, the former McClaren boss, who has
given £300,000 to the Tories and is knighted for services to industry and
charity, and William Salomon, a financier who has donated £800,000 and gets an
OBE for his education charity work.
Sunak had
promised to bring ethics and integrity back to politics after the Boris Johnson
era, and his political opponents questioned why honours had been given to party
donors.
Griffin,
who has also given £12m to a medical research institute, told the Guardian that
he had never sought an honour for his political contribution and that politics
was “not really my bag”.
He last
donated in 2019 and said he would not be giving any more money before the next
election despite being “pleased to be a Conservative”. He said: “I feel now
that I’ve done what I’ve done. I may make the odd contribution but nothing
really exceptional. They’ve got to fight it out between them.”
On his
honour, he added: “I started a company and I was a minicab driver myself and I
thought I could do a better job. I had a good training regime and no driver was
found guilty of any serious offence during my stewardship. I was proud of that
and I felt that overall I deserve some recognition if anybody did.”
Other
political figures to get honours include Sajid Javid, the former chancellor and
home secretary, who gets a knighthood, and the Labour former foreign secretary
Dame Margaret Beckett, who is made a dame grand cross, the highest honour.
Siobhan McDonagh, a Labour MP, is made a dame.
Sunak said
the honours had been given to “recognise the exceptional achievements of people
across the country and those who have shown the highest commitment to
selflessness and compassion”. He added: “To all honourees, you are the pride of
this country and an inspiration to us all.”
The Liberal
Democrats questioned the decision to honour some Tory donors, who the
government said had received awards for their business and charity work.
Wendy
Chamberlain, the Lib Dem chief whip, said: “It’s shocking, given the years of
chaos, just how many Tory donors are being rewarded. It makes a mockery of the
honours system that aims to celebrate people’s achievements and shows just how
out of touch the government is as families across the country continue to
struggle to pay their bills.”
Tom Brake,
the director of the campaign organisation Unlock Democracy, said: “The evidence
is that making a massive political donation significantly boosts a donor’s
chance of a knighthood or OBE. The honours system is long overdue for radical
surgery. Time to take the power of patronage away from politicians and give it
to the people.”
A
Conservative spokesperson said: “Volunteering and supporting a political party
is part of our civic democracy. It is wrong to criticise individuals being
honoured just because they have also chosen to support or donate to a political
party. Donations should be transparent, but that is not an excuse to knock
people for broader philanthropy, enterprise and public service.”
Dennis and
Salomon were approached for comment.
A
spokesperson for Martin said: “Charges of cronyism are clearly at odds with
reality. Tim made regular donations to Labour Leave, a Labour party pro-Brexit
organisation. He has also made donations to Vote Leave and the Brexit party.
“The party
of government, during the time most of the donations were made, was run by
pro-remain politicians like David Cameron and George Osborne.
“Tim, as
the record shows, has also been a consistent and vociferous critic of this and
previous governments’ policies towards pubs. In summary, Tim has mostly
supported widely recognised anti-government organisations over the years,
rather than the government.”
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