New Years honours list

[Neron]

Tony Blair. Honestly?
What are peoples thoughts

@ParkheadParadise

Christ, in 20 years it will be SIR BAWBAG BORIS JOHNSON 😂😂😂

Do you know, to this minute I hadn't thought of that terrifying possibility. Bloody hell!

@Neron

Tony Blair. Honestly? What are peoples thoughts

He deserves it. Not only for the changes he brought about as PM and his commitment to social justice but for the charity work he has done since and continues to do both across the world, nationally and in local communities. His voice, along with Gordon Brown's has been the voice of leadership and decency in this pandemic - nothing at all from current parliament has had any decency or sense behind it. His Institute for Global Change is really good I think. I don't see Sir John Major, Cameron or May or Johnson doing anything about anything. Yes, he got some things wrong - they pale in comparison with Cameron, May and Johnson at the mess they have created in the UK.

Former Prime Minister, international statesman, I’d be more surprised if he didn’t get something eventually. In the past he’d have been made an Earl.

Each to their own when it comes to honours but in the (very highly unlikely) event I was offered one, I’d decline.

Whatever you say about Tony Blair he made a significant contribution towards assisting the Northern Ireland peace process by helping to negotiate the Good Friday Agreement. The fact that we have not had a significant return to the 'Troubles' is down in part to his efforts and the achievement of the then Secretary of State, Mo Mowlam.

All Prime Ministers get an honour sooner or later. Indeed, until and including Thatcher, almost all got peerages: the exceptions were Churchill (apparently because peerages were then hereditary, and his son didn't want to become hereditary Duke of London) and Heath, who wanted to remain as an MP. They both got knighthoods, however. Not only did Thatcher get a life peerage, but her husband got a hereditary baronetcy, so their dreadful son is now Sir Mark! Post-Thatcher, Major and now Blair got knighthoods; they may yet get peerages, I suppose. Fast-forward a few years, and we''ll have Sir David Cameron of the Shed and Sir Boris Johnson of the Fridge!

@ddl1

All Prime Ministers get an honour sooner or later. Indeed, until and including Thatcher, almost all got peerages: the exceptions were Churchill (apparently because peerages were then hereditary, and his son didn't want to become hereditary Duke of London) and Heath, who wanted to remain as an MP. They both got knighthoods, however. Not only did Thatcher get a life peerage, but her husband got a hereditary baronetcy, so their dreadful son is now Sir Mark! Post-Thatcher, Major and now Blair got knighthoods; they may yet get peerages, I suppose. Fast-forward a few years, and we''ll have Sir David Cameron of the Shed and Sir Boris Johnson of the Fridge!

Indeed, Thatcher family ennobled for generations to come and she absolutely destroyed social housing stocks, killed industry in the north-east and replaced it with nothing bringing enormous poverty to millions. She was a disgrace. And people begrudge Tony Blair despite all the good he has done.

I was far more surprised by Vanessa Redgrave accepting a Damehood. She and her brother Corin were stalwarts of the Workers Revolutionary Party and similar outfits for decades.

It should only be given to people who pay their full taxes!

Why should someone in the Civil Service get one unless they have done something outstanding?

My point exactly (see my earlier comment). Civil servants get honours more or less automatically, but everyone else has to do so much more.

My friend's son just got an MBE. He works in the NHS with cancer patients and he 100% deserved it.

@LuluBlakey1
I am with you on that.

The reason it took so long was that the Queen never did warm to Blair. Unlike other PMs of either party.

My thoughts are that it's all ridiculous and outdated. We've pulled statues down and renamed halls of residence due to the ghosts of empire, but nobody seems to mind about Orders of the British Empire.

A super left-leaning "woke" friend of mine has just been awarded an MBE. I was staggered to learn that she'd accepted it, as it's so far from her values.

[quote Magnited]@LuluBlakey1
I am with you on that.

The reason it took so long was that the Queen never did warm to Blair. Unlike other PMs of either party.[/quote]
So if 15 years means the Queen did not warm to you, what does never being made a companion say about a Prime Minister? Am I to take it that the Queen in your view thinks that Eden was her best Prime Minister?

Blair - left office 2007, joined order 2022 = 15years
Major left office 1997, joined order 2005= 8 years
Thatcher left office 1990, joined order 1995 - 5 years
Callaghan left office 1979, joined order 1987 = 7 years
Wilson left office 1976, joined order 1976 = 0 years
Heath left office 1974, joined order 1992 = 18 years
Alec Douglas Hume - never made a companion.
Harold Macmillan - never made a companion.
Anthony Eden - left office 1957 made a companion 1954 before he was Prime Minister.
Winston Churchill - left office 1955, made a companion 1953.

The Queen also made Attlee a companion, although he had not been one of her Prime Ministers.

Keith Holyoake must have been very popular as the only commonwealth Prime Minister to join the order.

It’s shameful and should not have been allowed to happen after the Chilcot Report.

@mobear

It’s shameful and should not have been allowed to happen after the Chilcot Report.

I suggest you write to the Queen since membership of the Order of the Garter is entirely within her gift.

I'm more annoyed that an 18 year old who won one major competition gets one.

@LuluBlakey1 the reason people begrudge Blair could be that small war he started after lying about WMDS that destabilised the region for years to come. Dragging us into a forever war.

@Twicklette

As for the troubles he forgot the caveat that would keep our own troops free from persecution for the next two decades which is shockingly naïve or uncaring. and He wanted Britain to join the euro tying us to the whims of the EU

@jgw1 It might be, but she clearly makes the appointments under advisement.

Him calling me immoral only strengthened my position.

[quote mobear]@jgw1 It might be, but she clearly makes the appointments under advisement.[/quote]
My understanding if such advice is sought it is from a very small circle, that does not include the current Prime Minister or Cabinet Secretary.

I think the Kennys deserve it, what they've achieved is incredible. I think Whitty and Van Tam deserve it. And I think Tony Blair deserves it.

Lots of hypocrites accepting awards - Ashley Banjo who is such a campaigner for BLM and critical of past actions of the British Empire, has accepted a Member of the British Empire

I think its right that Tony Blair received a Knighthood - he was a long serving Prime Minister. We don't all agree with all actions taken by a PM but they served in office. I do happen to be a Blair supported but I am not a supporter of Margaret Thatcher at all and still feel she deserved a Knighthood even though I fundamentally disagree with some of the policy decisions she made

Martin Lewis leaps out as someone who deserved recognition - he must have eased stress for so many people/families with his financial advice, and seems to be absolutely driven to improve lives.

@jgw1 Neither of whom I ever blamed for this dramatic misjudgement? I’m not sure what your point is.