May to end gong show

THERESA MAY will refuse to issue a David Cameron-style resignation honours list when she leaves Downing St, it emerged last night.

Instead of Cameron’s 59 gongs for allies and cronies, she will award no more than around half a dozen to longstanding public servants or ‘substantial’ individuals.

The Prime Minister has been careful to avoid any public criticism of her predecessor’s highly controversial awards.

But privately, well-placed sources say Mrs May believes they were ‘excessive’ and ‘an unfortunate lapse of judgment’.

Cameron’s awards have prompted fresh criticism that his Government was a so-called chumocracy, where members of his inner circle and privileged social set had too much influence – and too many rewards.

Mrs May’s reluctance to hand out large numbers of gongs reflects her desire to shake off the Tories’ ‘posh boys’ image that Cameron and George Osborne struggled to counter.

‘Theresa supports the tradition of departing PMs being able to reward a small number of longstanding, dedicated and loyal public servants,’ said one insider.

‘But doling out gongs like confetti is not her style. Six or seven seems more appropriate than 59.’

When the honours scandal erupted last week, Downing St swiftly killed off the idea that Mrs May could intervene to reduce the numbers.

Officials pointed out that No 10 had no right to alter or water down Cameron’s list, not least because it could restrict the right of a future outgoing Labour Prime Minister, however far fetched that might seem with May 14 points ahead of Jeremy Corbyn in the polls, from rewarding their supporters on leaving power.

At the same time, No 10 made it clear that Cameron’s list had nothing to do with May – even though two of the donors nominated by Cameron also gave money to her recent leadership campaign.

An MP who has known the Prime Minister for 25 years observed wryly: ‘One reason Theresa wouldn’t give as many baubles to friends as Dave is that she doesn’t have as many friends. She is very self contained and spends most weekends at home with Philip (her husband), not at a weekend house party in the Cotswolds. She has a small team of advisers who have been with her for years, but you can count them on the fingers of one hand.’

In an article for today’s Mail on Sunday, former Liberal Democrat Cabinet Minister Sir Vince Cable mocks the honours list as worthy of ‘Ruritania’, warning that Mr Cameron has made a ‘catastrophic error’.

He says the list will fuel a rising tide of public disillusionment with political institutions, with many people believing that politicians look after themselves.

‘And along comes Mr Cameron to prove them right,’ he writes.

‘Six or seven more appropriate than 59’