Honours are turning into badges of shame

IF this affair were not so tawdry, it would almost be comical to witness the scramble to erase names from David Cameron’s resignation honours list.

First, doubts are raised over his proposal to award a peerage to Michael Spencer, the billionaire Tory donor and ex-party treasurer whose City firm was embroiled in the Libor rate-rigging scandal. Next, Ian Taylor, the EU Remain campaign donor whose oil company has also been mired in scandal, says he doesn’t want his name to go forward.

Now it seems at least some of the four Cabinet ministers tipped for knighthoods will remain plain Misters after their surprise survival in Theresa May’s team.

To cap it all, Labour is pressing its activist Will Straw, 36, who led the failed Britain Stronger in Europe group, to refuse the CBE for which Mr Cameron mysteriously saw fit to recommend him.

What a telling reflection on a debased system that honours have come to be seen as badges of shame. Meanwhile, the House of Lords has become an embarrassment. Stuffed to the gunwales with cronies and dodgy donors, it is already the world’s largest legislative chamber outside China.

As the Mail pointed out on Tuesday, Mrs May has a huge amount on her plate. But after decades on the back burner, how much longer can reform of the Lords and discredited honours be delayed?