The Honours thread 1: Until 2022

[Duc_et_Pair]

Dennis Thatcher was made a baronet not a peer. His wife was given a life peerage.

It is true Thatcher was a divisive figure but that was about ideology. Left v right etc. The normal sort of political divisions. But Blair's legacy is very different. This is not a politics forum but the bitter controversy around Britain's involvement in the Iraq invasion, questions over weapons of mass destruction etc, will never go away & Blair will never escape it.

You are right, while a baronetcy is hereditary indeed (some go back to the reign of James I) apparently they are not seen as peers.

 

[Tatiana Maria]

It's hardly ideological or even the Speaker's position, given as it's fairly ancient Commons rule that "we don't name people". Which you don't.

How was Lady Astor cited in the House of Commons when she became the first seated female MP?

Here is a link to her maiden speech .

I’m afraid I'm not seeing where Lady Astor was improperly "named" against procedure by a fellow MP as something other than "the honourable gentlewoman".

If you're implying that the social standards of more than a century ago are still applicable, I also can't see how.

I thought Mbruno was responding to your first statement that "it's fairly ancient Commons rule that 'we don't name people'". (If a rule was ancient but remained applicable in 2018, it must also have been applicable in 1920.)

But whether MPs should be referred to by name is a different issue than whether it is acceptable to name female MPs by their husbands' titles instead of their own names. It seems to me that John Bercow was addressing the latter issue.

https://www.theguardian.com/politic...ises-for-sexist-reference-to-emily-thornberry

Boris Johnson has apologised after referring to the shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, as “Lady Nugee”. The Speaker of the House of Commons said the references, in relation to Thornberry’s husband, Sir Christopher Nugee, were sexist and inappropriate.

[...]

Bercow interrupted Johnson: “First, we do not name call in this chamber, and secondly ... we do not address people by the titles of their spouses. The shadow foreign secretary has a name and it is not ‘Lady Something’.

 

[Prinsara]

The rule about "naming" people in the Commons is parliamentary procedure, not a social standard. Regardless of anyone's gender or marital status.

Mbruno, I think, wanted to highlight that Lady Astor chose to use her husband's title as a working MP, which, given it was 1919, I'm not sure what else she would have done. I'm curious if he believes those century-old social conventions are still in play. If there's something in error, I'm sure he can speak for himself.

Bercow was calling out Johnson for being sexist, lazy, and patronizing, in addition to breaking procedure, but my point in using the clip of the incident was that women in the UK are not required to use their husbands' names or titles, and certainly not professionally. So Cherie doesn't have to be Lady Blair in any situation she doesn't want to, and possibly not at all. If they end up at a Court function, that might be the exception.

 

[Tatiana Maria]

The rule about "naming" people in the Commons is parliamentary procedure, not a social standard. Regardless of anyone's gender or marital status.

I suspected you were referring to parliamentary procedure based on your reference to "procedure" in the first paragraph, but it then became less clear because your next paragraph went on to mention "social standards".

Bercow was calling out Johnson for being sexist, lazy, and patronizing, in addition to breaking procedure, but my point in using the clip of the incident was that women in the UK are not required to use their husbands' names or titles, and certainly not professionally.

Yes, I understood and appreciated the point you were making in your first post about the then Speaker's comments.

Mbruno, I think, wanted to highlight that Lady Astor chose to use her husband's title, which, given it was 1919, I'm not sure what else she would have done. I'm curious if he believes those century-old social conventions are still in play. If there's something in error, I'm sure he can speak for himself.

Discussions on this forum are public, and as you say, if you, Mbruno or any other person else believes my posts to be in error, they are free to say so.

If they end up at a Court function, that might be the exception.

Indeed, there have been times when the Queen or Royal Household insisted on referring to a woman by her husband's name against the woman's stated wishes. I hope that has stopped, but I am not sure.

 

[Tatiana Maria]

A petition to revoke former prime minister Sir Tony Blair's knighthood has collected hundreds of thousands of signatures and appeared prominently in the British news.

https://www.change.org/p/mp-s-to-strip-tony-blair-of-his-knighthood
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59866084

I wonder, do all of the signers of the petition have a genuine desire for the monarch to become more politically active by picking and choosing which former prime ministers to award honors to? Or are some of them unaware that royal honors (previously peerages, now knighthoods) are routine for former prime ministers and that to skip one would constitute a political statement from the Queen, who has mostly endeavored to remain politically neutral?

 

[Mbruno]

A petition to revoke former prime minister Sir Tony Blair's knighthood has collected hundreds of thousands of signatures and appeared prominently in the British news.

https://www.change.org/p/mp-s-to-strip-tony-blair-of-his-knighthood
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59866084

I wonder, do all of the signers of the petition have a genuine desire for the monarch to become more politically active by picking and choosing which former prime ministers to award honors to? Or are some of them unaware that royal honors (previously peerages, now knighthoods) are routine for former prime ministers and that to skip one would constitute a political statement from the Queen, who has mostly endeavored to remain politically neutral?

The Order of the Garter remains in the personal gift of the Sovereign, so, unlike other awards that fall under ministerial responsibility, the Queen is personally responsible for all Garter appointments.

It is true that former PMs have been traditionally appointed Knights/Ladies Companion of the Garter, but I don't see any reason why that should be automatic. Membership of the Order of the Garter should be a special distinction to be awarded only to those who are truly deserving and not an ex-officio award which is automatic for individuals who held a particular public office. There are other (state) orders such as the Order of the Bath (for civil servants and military officers) or the Order of St Michael an St George (for members of the diplomatic service, or Governors of the Queen's realms and territories) which are better suited for such type of appointments. The Queen could even have made Tony Blair merely a Knight Bachelor, but I guess that any decoration for him, even a lower one, would have raised eyebrows among those who feel strongly about his tenure as PM.

 

[Tatiana Maria]

The Order of the Garter remains in the personal gift of the Sovereign, so, unlike other awards that fall under ministerial responsibility, the Queen is personally responsible for all Garter appointments.

It is true that former PMs have been traditionally appointed Knights/Ladies Companion of the Garter, but I don't see any reason why that should be automatic. Membership of the Order of the Garter should be a special distinction to be awarded only to those who are truly deserving and not an ex-officio award which is automatic for individuals who held a particular public office.

The reason is that if and when the Queen personally decides to award honors only to select former prime ministers, instead of to all of them or none of them, it compromises her position of political neutrality. What makes one head of government more deserving of honor than another is inherently a political appraisal.

 

[muriel]

Prince William carried out investitures at at Windsor Castle today.

Those receiving awards included David Suchet

https://twitter.com/DailyMailUK/stat...87103200710660

Two Queen’s Gallantry Medals were awarded today to the initial Police responders to the
@LCFC helicopter crash. These included Sergeant Michael Hooper and Constable Stephen Quartermain, both of Leicestershire Police.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1486007103630331906

 

[Marengo]

It's time to close this thread. You can find the new one here.