The Tory party’s wannabe comeback kids

When a prime minister leaves No. 10, they usually discover the phone soon stops ringing. But there is at least a brief window when they are more popular with colleagues than they were in office. Why? The resignation honours list. It is a way to curry favour, settle debts and win back friends. While the thank-you list appears after a premiership is over, it can affect how a leader is remembered.

In keeping with her premiership, Liz Truss’s list was short – but it still became the subject of fierce debate in her inner circle during their final hours in No. 10. Boris Johnson’s was so lengthy that there were long discussions in Rishi Sunak’s Downing Street about how to handle the fallout. Sunak has taken six months to draft his. It is expected to be published in the coming weeks.

‘I’ve been trying to stay away from it,’ says one aide. ‘It’s all anyone wants to talk to me about.’ Those with knowledge of its contents say it is a little longer than first planned, but no Lavender List. Among the hopefuls are ex-advisers, former MPs and even a magazine editor, all awaiting entry into Britain’s most exclusive and generously upholstered retirement home.

There are also the Tory MPs who survived the election. While they were relieved on election night, some now look at the empty opposition benches and wonder whether life in the upper house might be more to their liking. However, Sunak has decided not to give sitting MPs peerages, for fear of triggering unhelpful by-elections. With the Tories polling third behind Labour and Reform, there is a desire to delay any meeting with the electorate. During the shadow cabinet meeting this week, the party chairman Nigel Huddleston gave a presentation on the May local elections.