6 JANUARY 2025 | OPINION
Reproduced in its original form, with kind permission from Conservative Home.
There has been much hand-wringing and teeth-gnashing, particularly among folk on the Right, about Sir Sadiq Khan being knighted in the New Year’s Honours List. But I think some people really don’t get how much of a snub this actually is, in Westminster terms.
Politics attracts people with massive egos. Sir Sadiq has among the most massive. So, the question becomes: how do you deal with people who want to feel important? Well… you make them feel important… while quietly making sure, behind the scenes, that they’re actually not.
It is the same reason why Sir Tony Blair has a knighthood. People don’t want him wandering the corridors of the Palace of Westminster, stirring up trouble. Never mind which Chamber it is – actual politics gets done in corridors. It gets done in cafés. It gets done at (certain) pubs.
For a former PM of 10 years (love him or loathe him), a peerage would’ve been expected – as with e.g. Thatcher. To get only a knighthood (which costs the nation nothing) is basically the current (or former) establishment’s way of saying: “just take this, now sod off – and don’t come back for more”. It’s amazing the amount of people who don’t know this.
This is basically Westminster’s way of saying: “right, we get that you used to be ‘a thing’, and that’s fair enough, but… yeah, please do kind of just stop angling now…”
Otherwise, you’d give them a peerage, whereby they’d still get to go around causing trouble in the same circles for as long as they liked (between naps).
It is the access to either House and hobnobbing with others – because you can do so easily – that makes the difference in politics. In a lot of ways, we are no better than the EU there – all those back-room deals…
(It is worth noting that some former MPs do still hold a parliamentary pass, but Sir Tony is not among them as of October 2024. Sir Sadiq is, but these do not necessarily last forever.)
This is not a question of ‘status’; it is a question of ‘access’. This is where the whole notion of ‘lobbying’ comes from. So, if you actually want them out of the way – and I believe it’s well-known in Labour circles that Sir Keir doesn’t like Sir Sadiq all that much – the substitute is just to bestow something like this.
I have often said this to people when someone they don’t like gets a knighthood: just take some solace in the fact that that’s all they’ve got – because of what it means, but also what it doesn’t mean. It’s better than Horlicks for helping you sleep at night.
Now, this is very different amongst ‘ordinary’ folk. Normally, for example, you have to work 6 nights a week with disadvantaged children for 25 years to get an MBE/OBE. Or you can do a Sir Keir and get a knighthood just for doing the job you were appointed to do to begin with. Or you can be someone who genuinely did do something of significant value for the nation and get a knighthood that way.
But when political operators give each other knighthoods – as opposed to elevating them to a position where they could still be of some actual influence – there is always a reason for that.
Then again, the same has been said about the Lords. Hence the expression: “kicking them upstairs”. But at least that’s better than just getting some fancy title, with little else to show for it (in political terms) – you don’t even get a daily allowance just for showing up!
If you still wanted them around the place, you’d have a way of getting them back there. But if you don’t, then basically you do this instead. You can’t really fail to do something (unless it’s the former Speaker, apparently, and quite right too!), but the same principle applies with Sir Sadiq:
“Take this. Sod off.”
For the avoidance of doubt, by the way, I will staunchly refer to him as Sir Sadiq, just as I will refer to Sir Keir and Sir Tony. It is not my place to disrespect the institution of the British honours system, just because I don’t like the person – it’s not up to me.
Readers may note that it is rather an oddity, isn’t it, that if you get a peerage, you are formally referred to as e.g. Lord <Surname>. But if you get a knighthood, then apparently, in formal style, everyone is now on first-name terms with you… ever the quirks of the British honours system!
With that said, though, there is normally a discreet interval. I wonder how long it will be before the artist formerly known as Boris Johnson gets… something or other? May certainly did, despite some people’s doubts as to how fondly she will be remembered. The same could be said of Sunak, and certainly Truss – sad, really.
Particularly in respect of Sunak, I imagine the reason he hasn’t yet made off to California himself is to avoid disrupting education and friendships for his two daughters. We’ll probably have him around for some while longer. Plus, if he went ‘full American’ on citizenship, he would most likely have to renounce any former titles he’d been given over here anyway – as they don’t do those – so there probably isn’t a great deal of point in giving him one, if those are indeed his future plans.
But therein lies the conundrum, bearing in mind that honours can always be refused even if offered. To accept a knighthood, though, broadly implies that one does not necessarily expect to receive much further – “message received and decoded”.
Of course, the present Prime Minister was already a knight of the realm. And yes, Sir Sadiq may yet tire of the burdens of mayoralty and choose to run for Parliament again, as his predecessor did.
But until then, it is probably best not to feel all too downcast by his ennoblement. It really could have been far worse.
