LONDON: British PM Rishi Sunak on Monday became embroiled in a public war of words with Boris Johnson, in a spat over the former leader’s controversial awards to his key political allies. Johnson’s long-awaited political honours list was published on Friday, rewarding Brexit die-hards and even those implicated in the “Partygate” scandal that contributed to his downfall last year. But its failure to feature several expected names prompted accusations from Johnson’s camp of meddling from Sunak and Downing Street before it was submitted.
Sunak’s spokesman told reporters it was “entirely untrue” that the PM or officials removed names from Johnson’s list before it was sent to a House of Lords vetting committee. The PM himself then lashed out at Johnson, accusing him of asking him to overrule the committee, which rejected eight of his nominations to the unelected upper chamber of parliament. “Boris Johnson asked me to do something that I wasn’t prepared to do, because I didn’t think it was right,” he said at a tech conference in London. “That was to either overrule the Holac committee (House of Lords Appointments Commission), or to make promises to people. I wasn’t prepared to do that. As I said I didn’t think it was right, and if people don’t like that then tough.” Johnson hit back in a statement, saying: “Rishi Sunak is talking rubbish.”
His resignation honours list has sparked fresh factional in-fighting in the ruling Conservative party.