Peerage's solely for charity should... rule ok

[JIMMY12345]

“Such are promises. All lies and Jest. Still a Man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest”

Simon and Garfunkel: The Boxer

Prince Charles risks being whacked on the head. This for what is in effect- Trifling. A Saudi millionaire apparently MIGHT have donated money for the sole reason of obtaining a CBE (and perhaps Citizenship).OK so he probably did .So what? Anyway it was back in. Just how many years back was it in and if so..............

This is just so great. The Princes Foundation is responsible for restoration of amongst other:

The Garrison Chapel Chelsea
Castle of Mey
Rose Town Jamaica

If you’re a walker/cyclist. You just want to walk/cycle past these. Slowly to appreciate just how beautiful they are. You will have to adjust sprockets for the Castle. So we establish the money is going to a good cause. It’s worth a CBE. The guy could work his socks of as a NHS cleaner and after 40 years get A CBE. This particular beneficiary is just accelerating the process. He works in a different sphere. The principal is the same. He just contributes cash not work. He gets a reward. In all our closets are lots of metallic charity medals. How much do they cost? Bulk purchase 10 pence.
We have all done charity events. Let’s be honest the hosting companies want the advertising and PR. Grocery stores or charity’s had a strict dress code. You have to wear their logo T shirt.

The entire world is so puzzled by the English. At very rare times self-righteous hypocrites. Grab the money. If you’re really smart, ask for more. We have homeless people and children who do not get to eat.

More to the point. The man loves England and its football teams. Does he want to go to USA. Does he want to go perhaps to Switzerland or South Africa. Nope he is sensible. It’s like the girl you fall in love with. His heart has chosen England. A quick back ground check reveals no history of convictions. Certainly no murders or theft of cycles.

I have a CAF report in my hand.9% of people are responsible for 66% of charitable donations. These are shrinking. If this guy and ilk are encouraged to exit. More shrinkage.

Peerages for personal gain or influence are bad.
Peerages purely for charity are different. I am not going to say how much this guy is worth. Suffice to say he needs no money. We should differentiate by motive.Children who do not get to eat will agree with this.

Rules are there.Bad rules should be changed not enforced.

 

[Mbruno]

Cash for honors is illegal in the UK. That is why the charity is under police investigation.

Having said that, historically peerages have long been bought in the UK. There are even many references in English literature to characters who are wealthy merchants and mention they are considering buying a peerage to get access to high society. Julian Fellowes even wrote a character in Downton Abbey who mentioned that possibility to Lady Mary (the sleazy newspaper editor who was going to marry her when Matthew was engaged to Lavinia).

Modern standards are probably just stricter than they were in the past, notwithstanding many recent scandals of cash-for-peerages involving contemporary Tory governments for example.

In any case, a CBE, which is a relatively low-level honor (not even a knighthood), is not awarded on the monarch's personal discretion, but has to be recommended by the government. One of the criteria for awards is precisely "work with charitable organizations" although I understand that to mean actually running a charity rather than simply donating money to it. I don't know what the citation for this particular award was (as published in the London Gazette), but any accusation of "cash for favors" is always difficult to prove. And, if the charity used the Prince's political influence to secure the award, it would still have to do that with the government's collusion.

 

[Denville]

They did not buy a peerage.. Peerages were granted because of donations, to party funds, or to charities, to get a good reputation....

 

[Mbruno]

They did not buy a peerage.. Peerages were granted because of donations, to party funds, or to charities, to get a good reputation....

Getting s peerage in exchange for a donation to party funds is the same as buying a peerage. Of course , peerages were never explicitly sold. I was arguing implicitly.

 

[Iluvbertie]

Can anyone name someone who was given a peerage for charity purposes?

I know that there was no suggestion of a peerage for the man at the centre of the Prince Charles scandal so I was wondering who had received such a peerage?

 

[Denville]

I think that a wealthy person hoping for a peerage would be expected to be someone who had donated generously to charity....

 

[Alison H]

Lloyd George (Prime Minister during the First World War) pretty much sold honours for cash. This was made illegal in 1925.

It's now rare for any new peerage higher than the rank of baron/baroness to be created at all, and these are life peerages rather than hereditary peerages. Those that are often go to politicians, but some are for services to business, charity or the civil service. Those for charity are sometimes for campaigning/raising awareness of issues, rather than actual financial donations.

However, there've been several cases of peerages which seem to have been given largely as a result of donations to political parties - not charities. There was a scandal over peerages granted to "Tony's cronies", people who'd donated large amounts to the Labour Party whilst Tony Blair was Prime Minister.

But it doesn't seem to happen so much with donations to actual charities. I don't think anyone would expect to become Lord Bloggs of Bloggsville for donating £3 million to Save The Children or the British Heart Foundation.

 

[Denville]

Not in the sense that you ring up the Honours Comittee adn say I've just donated X Million to whatever charity.. but if you are wealthy, and a peerage is being considered, for some achievement such as services to Industry, it would help/be expected that you dindt sit on your millions but had favourite charities and been generous to them.