Tories defend honours system amid 'cronyism' row

Source: www.aol.com - Saturday, December 31, 2016
The Government has defended the New Year Honours and insisted it is unfair to criticise awards given to Tory donors, despite allegations of cronyism. Prime Minister Theresa May has previously pledged to shake up the system and in November joked that she "retched" when she saw David Cameron's resignation honours list, in an attack on his former spin doctor, Sir Craig Oliver. But Labour has condemned the Tories for rewarding "cronies" in the New Year Honours. Tory donor David Ord, who has given the party £930,000, has been knighted for "political service", while Dominic Johnson, associate treasurer of the Conservative Party and now CBE, gave the Cameron family somewhere to stay when they left Downing Street in July. The Government emphasised the independent oversight of honours nominations, which can be submitted by Whitehall departments and members of the public. A Government source said: "Honours are rewards for hard work and contributions to civic society. "All nominations for honours are assessed by one of the nine independent honours committees. "It is unfair to criticise individuals being honoured just because they have also chosen to donate to a political party. "Donations should be transparent, but it's not an excuse to knock people for broader philanthropy, enterprise and public service." But a spokesman for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "The Conservatives are making a mockery of our honours system. "Every crony appoin

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