Hey Conservative Party, how about I do something for you – you know, in the name of elitist, right-wing party politics, and you, you know, scratch my back in return. I wouldn’t mind one of those titles. You know, a Sir or something.
Yup, it’s that time of year when the New Years Honours List comes out and we find out who the Queen will be honouring for service to the country.
“For Britain!”
Or, more accurately, “For the Tories!” because nothing says nationalism and doing your bit for the WHOLE nation like being employed, as a foreigner, for £500,000 for a few months by a particular political party and then receiving a knighthood for services to politics!
Yup, that’s Lynton Crosby for you, the Australian drafted in to strategise the Tory election campaign, and because they won (well, because 30 odd percent of people voted for them), the man gets a knighthood.
As the Independent reports:
The row over the honours system being used to reward Conservative Party ‘cronies’ is set to be reignited with the revelation that almost 30 Tory Party members or supporters have received awards.
Publication of the New Year’s Honours List confirms that the Australian political strategist, Lynton Crosby, is to be knighted for services to politics. It follows his short stint working for the Conservative Party earlier this year – for which he was paid £500,000 – during which he successfully directed their General Election strategy, resulting in an unexpected overall majority for David Cameron.
But analysis of the list shows that the future Sir Lynton is just one of many who have been honoured not for what they had done for the country, but for their services to the Conservative Party.
It seems to me rather a blatant example of insidious cronyism and Tory abuse of power. As the Indie continues:
Another Tory to receive a knighthood is Henry Bellingham, an old Etonian who has been MP for Norfolk North West for 32 years, and was a junior foreign minister for two years. Two officials working for the Scottish Conservatives received the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) – the highest award on offer below being made a knight or a dame. They are Mark McInnes, director of the Scottish Conservatives since 2003, and James Stewart, who was a director of a London-based equity firm when he took over as treasurer of the Scottish Tories in 2012.
The so-called ‘queen of the sex shop’ Jacqueline Gold, chief executive of Ann Summers, who is credited with changing the lingerie and sex toys retail chain’s brand image to make it more women-friendly, has also been made a CBE. Ms Gold and her father, David Gold, who made a fortune selling pornography, are prominent donors to the Conservative Party. She appeared alongside George Osborne at a pre-election Conservative press conference.
Two Conservative activists have received the next most prestigious order, the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire). Marion Little is a long serving party organiser, based at head office, with the title ‘campaign specialist’, and Dr Spencer Pitfield, who ran against Nick Clegg in Sheffield Hallam in 2005, was director of the Conservative National Policy Forum in the run up to this year’s election.
Lyndon Jones, for years leading figure in the Welsh Conservative Party, and its current deputy chairman, has been awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire). So has Christopher Fenwick, a member of the family that owns the chain of department stores. His award for “political service” probably refers to his former role as Deputy Chairman of the secretive United and Cecil Club, which raises hundreds of thousands of pounds a year for the Conservatives.
The older I get, the more I really have an issue with the Tories.
