Boris Johnson has slashed the number of people who will feature in his resignation honours list from almost 100 to as few as 50 after the former prime minister was advised by officials that he had proposed too many.
People briefed on Johnson’s latest list said he had for a second time put forward former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre for a peerage, despite his rejection last year by the House of Lords appointments commission, which vets nominations.
Outgoing prime ministers have a right to nominate people for peerages, knighthoods, damehoods and other awards in a resignation honours list. But some have proved controversial, including Harold Wilson’s so-called Lavender list, which involved honours for prominent business people.
If the Lords appointments commission rejects Dacre for a second time, it would leave Prime Minister Rishi Sunak with the decision on whether to override the watchdog and approve the honour.
As well as being a close ally of Johnson, Dacre is one of the most influential figures in the UK media as editor in chief of the Mail’s parent company DMG.
Johnson made Dacre his favoured candidate to be chair of the media regulator Ofcom, but he was rejected by an independent assessment panel in 2021. DMG did not respond to a request for comment on Dacre on Thursday.
Since leaving Downing Street in July, the names on Johnson’s resignation honours list have been the subject of widespread media speculation. A spokesperson for Johnson said: “We do not comment on honours.”
But Johnson’s allies confirmed his list would now be shorter than either of his two predecessors in Number 10 when they left office.
In 2019 Theresa May nominated 51 people for honours, while in 2016 David Cameron put forward 59 recipients.
“The list is shorter than David Cameron’s or Theresa May’s so everyone can relax,” said one Johnson ally.
Other people familiar with the situation said Johnson had initially tried to include about 100 names on his list both from his time as prime minister and his spell as mayor of London.
Those expected to make the final cut for peerages include four sitting MPs who are Johnson supporters: ex-culture secretary Nadine Dorries, Scotland secretary Alister Jack, former president of the UN COP26 climate summit Alok Sharma, and former minister Nigel Adams.
David Ross, the founder of Carphone Warehouse who is a prominent Tory donor, is set to receive a peerage.
Ross found himself at the centre of controversy about four years ago after he facilitated a £15,000 holiday in Mustique for Johnson and his wife.
On Monday The Times newspaper reported that Johnson wanted to give a knighthood to his father, Stanley, a former MEP who appeared on I’m a Celebrity, the ITV show.
Sir Keir Starmer, Labour leader, said the idea of Johnson giving a gong to his father would be “absolutely outrageous”.
But the Johnson ally cast doubt on whether his father had been proposed for a knighthood.
Years ago Boris Johnson proposed halving the number of peers in the Lords from about 800 to about 400.
But after becoming prime minister in July 2019 he nominated 86 people to join the Lords even as other peers retired or quit, leaving the size of parliament’s second chamber slightly higher than when he entered Number 10.
Additional reporting by Arjun Neil Alim in London
