The QueenThe private secretary to the government, Sir Edward Young, has reportedly been in close contact with cabinet secretary Simon Case . ever since Boris Johnson announced his resignation outside 10 Downing Street last Thursday. Sir Edward has been assured that the top UK official will investigate any recommendations deemed inappropriate before being forwarded to the palace.
A royal insider told i newspaper: “Sir Edward is aware of the unusual circumstances surrounding any severance payments proposed by Mr Johnson and he is assured that every effort will be made to embarrass Her Majesty .”
The Buckingham Palace source also said Sir Tom Scholar, Permanent Secretary to the Treasury and chairman of the Honors Committee, is “closely monitoring” the Prime Minister’s recommendations before they are passed on.
The official added: “The key to any recommendations is that they do not put Her Majesty in a difficult position.”
Number 10 has already confirmed that the prime minister will continue with a roll of honor for resignation before stepping down from office – expected before the Conservative Party conference in October.
Opposition parties have said that given the circumstances surrounding his resignation, the tradition should be scrapped on this occasion.
The Liberals have written to the House of Lords nomination committee and the Cabinet Office honors committee urging them to consider blocking a roll of honor from Mr Johnson.
The party, led by Sir Ed Davey, has argued that the prime minister is too tainted to get one.
Johnson is reportedly considering rewarding Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries for her loyalty by promoting her to the House of Lords.
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Buckingham Palace is said to have received a list of potential candidates for the honorary title that, according to the i-newspaper, took up almost an entire sheet of A4 paper.
In 2016, David Cameron gave eight people a noble rank or title before resigning after the Brexit referendum, while his replacement, Ms May, created 13 colleagues in 2019.
It was reported last week that the Queen was preparing to turn down a general election request from Mr Johnson as he tried desperately to cling to his troubled premiership.
The Queen’s high-ranking courtiers concluded that there were two main reasons for rejecting such a request from the Prime Minister.
The first was that over the past week it had become abundantly clear that Mr Johnson had definitively lost the support of his parliamentary colleagues.
Despite his claims of a strong mandate from the British public, this legally comes from his MPs who were elected to parliament in the last general election in 2019.
Second, the Queen’s advisers had considered whether the Conservative Party could actually form a government without calling a general election, and decided that it could.