Sir Tom Devine: Boris Johnson's honours list tarnishes my knighthood

The leading scholar also criticised current Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for approving Mr Johnson's honours list and compared the episode to how the state was run in the 18th century before reforms.

"When I saw Johnson’s honours list I was absolutely sickened at the collection of cronies, friends and mediocrities of this creature who were given peerages, knighthoods and other accolades at his behest.

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"Let us not forget also that the current UK Prime Minister waved through this list of nonentities," he told The Herald, raising concerns about some nominees who were involved in the Partygate saga which saw more than 50 people fined for attending social gatherings in Number Ten in breach of lockdown rules at the height of the Covid pandemic.

"That behaviour was entirely typical of ‘Old Corruption’ in the 18th century unreformed state. It is incredible in a so-called UK democracy in 2023.

"How must those thousands of British citizens who have been awarded recognition for significant contributions to national life after careful evaluation by the impartial honours committees feel about the elevation of individuals who have been advanced solely at the personal desire of an utterly discredited former Prime Minister?

"I certainly know how I feel. In 2015 I was knighted by the late Queen Elizabeth in Holyrood Place ‘for services to the study of Scottish history’. It was a day of celebration for my family and friends. That honour has now been tarnished irrevocably."

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Sir Tom, who was the first historian in the field of Scottish history to be knighted in 2015, said he hoped the controversy would usher in the end of the House of Lords.

Under proposals put forward by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, the Lords would be replaced by an elected upper chamber.

"Surely this must be the last nail in the coffin for the survival of the House of Lords?" said Sir Tom.

"If Labour is elected to government at the next General Election it must ensure as a priority that institution is thoroughly reformed as quickly as possible and becomes an elected Senate with political patronage as a factor in membership of a second chamber finally consigned to history."

A long-awaited list of individuals who were nominated by Mr Johnson to receive honours and peerages was released on Friday - hours before the former Prime Minister announced he was resigning as an MP. It has attracted a host of criticism with accusations of cronyism being thrown at Mr Johnson.

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Mr Johnson, who resigned as Prime Minister in July 2022, nominated seven people to receive life peerages and 38 people to receive honours including MBEs, OBEs and knighthoods.

Since the names of the nominees were published a row has intensified between Mr Sunak and Mr Johnson after the list did not contain some of the former Prime Minister's key allies including former cabinet minister Nadine Dorries and MP Nigel Adams.

Mr Johnson yesterday accused Sunak of "talking rubbish" after the Prime Minister claimed his predecessor asked him to overrule the vetting committee to push through his House of Lords nominations, a request he resisted.

The rancour between former Tory leader and his successor descended into a public slanging match as Mr Sunak said his one-time ally had asked him to "do something I wasn't prepared to do".

"I didn't think it was right and if people don't like that, then tough," Mr Sunak said yesterday in his first comments since Mr Johnson dramatically resigned as an MP.

Publicly turning on the man he used to share Downing Street with, Mr Sunak suggested Mr Johnson wanted him to ignore the recommendations of the House of Lords Appointments Commission (Holac).

But Mr Johnson's camp accused the man who was his Chancellor of having "secretly blocked" the peerages of former culture secretary Ms Dorries and other allies in his resignation list.

The former prime minister released a statement saying: "Rishi Sunak is talking rubbish.

"To honour these peerages it was not necessary to overrule Holac - but simply to ask them to renew their vetting, which was a mere formality."

The House of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC) said it rejected eight of Mr Johnson's nominations.

Martin Reynolds, formerly Mr Johnson’s principal private secretary in No 10, was nominated for a peerage. 

He has admitted emailing Downing Street staff to invite them to come for drinks in the No 10 garden to “make the most of this lovely weather” on May 20, 2020. 

The “bring your own booze” event took place at a time when rules and guidance restricted gatherings of more than two people and workplaces were meant to maintain social distancing. 

In his evidence to the Commons’ Privileges Committee investigation into whether Mr Johnson misled MPs over his response to the scandal, Mr Reynolds admitted the wording, which he has said he signed off but did not draft, had been “totally inappropriate”. 

Shelley Williams-Walker, who was head of operations at No 10 during Mr Johnson’s premiership, has been made a dame. 

She was allegedly in charge of the music during one of two leaving dos held on the eve of the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral on April 16, 2021. 

Some attendees were later fined by police for their participation, with socialising indoors banned at the time between people from other households, and when meeting others outdoors was limited to groups of six people or two households. 

Jack Doyle, who was director of communications when the partygate story broke, will be made a Member of the Order of the British Empire as part of the honours roll. 

A former Daily Mail political associate editor, Mr Doyle attended a “Secret Santa” event in the No 10 press office on December 18, 2020. 

At the time, indoor gatherings of two or more people from different households were prohibited. 

Among the other nominees was Charlotte Owen, a former aide to Mr Johnson who at 29 is set to become the youngest ever life peer. Ms Owen will now become Baroness Owen.

The list also handed a damehood to former Cabinet members and Johnson allies Priti Patel and knighthoods to Jacob Rees-Mogg and Michael Fabricant.

The full rundown of honours was unveiled just hours before Mr Johnson resigned as an MP on Friday, claiming that a Commons investigation into whether he misled Parliament over partygate was an attempt to "drive me out."

A parliamentary hairdresser and an adviser to Mr Johnson's wife Carrie Johnson were given honours for their contributions to British society.

A few hours after his honours list was released, Mr Johnson announced he was standing down as an MP over an investigation into whether he had misled Parliament about lockdown parties.

Both Ms Dorries and Mr Adams are also stepping down as MPs, with the Conservatives under Mr Sunak now facing three by elections in England.