Queen’s dislike for Tony Blair is ‘bed-blocking’ the honours system as gongs cannot be given to politicians who succeeded him without him getting them too, sources say
- Sources have said that officials wish to correct the imbalance in those honoured
- Tory politicians hold 22 and Labour four of the 102 current highest honours
- Blair angered senior royals with his handling of the death of Diana in 1997
The Queen’s dislike for Tony Blair is ‘bed-blocking’ the honours system as gongs cannot be given to politicians who succeeded him without him getting them too, sources have said.
Buckingham Palace is planning to give more honours to Labour politicians after concerns some senior party figures are being blocked due to the Monarch’s issues with Blair.
Sources have said that officials wish to correct the imbalance in the number of prominent figures receiving recognition.
Tory politicians receiving The Order of the Garter, the Order of the Thistle, the Order of Merit and the Order of Companions of Honour outnumber Labour by more than five to one, reports The Times.
Tory politicians hold 22 and Labour four of the 102 current posts across those four highest categories.
Blair angered senior royals with his handling of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997.
Buckingham Palace is planning to give more honours to Labour politicians after concerns some senior party figures are being blocked due to the Queen’s dislike for Tony Blair
Gordon Brown was in line to receive the Order of the Garter – an honour created by Edward III in 1348 – but efforts have been stopped as The Queen ‘is reluctant’ to give the same honour to Blair, the publication claims.
All but one of the Queen’s nine prime ministers before Blair was made a Knight of the Garter.
A source told the newspaper: ‘There is concern in the palace that the senior orders are beginning to look politically unbalanced.’
It has been suggested that Brown could be given the Knight of the Thistle honour so he is not made a Knight of the Garter before Blair.
The source continued: ‘Blair is the block because they just won’t do it. Which means Brown and Theresa May, who they think should have something, are blocked. They could leapfrog him but they’re now looking at giving Brown the Thistle because he is Scottish.
‘You obviously couldn’t give anything to Jeremy Corbyn, even if he would accept it, which is unlikely.’
All but one of the Queen’s nine prime ministers before Blair was made a Knight of the Garter
Prominent figures such as Lord Prescott, Lord Blunkett, Margaret Beckett and Harriet Harman could help readdress the balance.
Shortly after the death of Diana Blair told a BBC One documentary that it was ‘very difficult to work out exactly what the Queen was thinking at this time.’
He said: ‘I think she was resistant to anything that struck her as false or struck her as a public relations event in the face of something that was a profound personal tragedy.
Gordon Brown was in line to receive the Order of the Garter – an honour created by Edward III in 1348 – but efforts have been stopped as The Queen ‘is reluctant’ to give the same honour to Blair
‘Princess Diana’s relationship that she had with the monarchy and the relationship with Prince Charles, there was going to be a risk that the country’ s sense of loss turned to a sense of anger and grievance and then turned against the monarchy. So the first conversation with the Queen was an important conversation.
‘She was obviously very sad about Diana. She was concerned about the monarchy itself because the Queen has a very strong instinct about public opinion and how it plays. ‘