Downing Street has made clear today that Theresa May will not move to prune down or veto David Cameron’s resignation honours list. This is the right decision.
Whatever you think of the list, it wouldn’t be right for a new Prime Minister to seek to amend the resignation honours list of their predecessor. If this started to happen, it would make politics even more bitter and factional than it is today. Imagine if this Downing Street transition was not from one Tory to another but a Labour PM being replaced by a Tory who immediately vetoed all the honours proposed by the outgoing Labour Prime Minister.
Now, this doesn’t mean that the Cameron list is wise. But simply that the decision on the wisdom of it should be left to him and those who scrutinise the awarding of honours, not his successor.
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