Keir Starmer might have billed the New Year Honours as a celebration of the ‘best of Britain’.
But you could be forgiven for mistaking some of the gongs as prizes for ‘services to Woke’, if not ‘services to the Labour Party’ – as rewards for failure have been handed out again.
Honours have been granted to proponents of decidedly fashionable philosophies applauded largely by those to the Left of the political spectrum.
The knighthood for the Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police John Robins ‘for services to policing’ comes after, earlier this year, he was accused of discriminating against white Britons after it emerged his force was delaying job applications from such candidates – while ‘under-represented’ ethnic groups could launch bids to become constables all year round.
Mr Robins denied ‘positive discrimination’, which is illegal, but is on record as saying ‘legislation should change’ so forces can recruit under-represented minorities.
Among new damehoods is the former chief executive of NHS England, Amanda Pritchard – whose job came to an end early this year when the Government decided the health service would be improved by entirely abolishing the body she led.
There is also an honour for the director-general of the National Trust, Hilary McGrady, for ‘services to heritage’, as she is made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, or CBE.
The Trust has been embroiled in a series of rows over ‘wokery’ since she took the helm in 2018, not least in October when it emerged that a vegan tampon dispenser had been placed in the male lavatories at Sizergh Castle in the Lake District.
Another CBE goes to former chief executive of Girlguiding, Angela Salt, for her services to Brownies and Guides.
Yet while the worldwide Girlguiding movement began in 1909 after Robert Baden-Powell’s first-ever Scout rally was gatecrashed by young women demanding ‘something for the girls’, Ms Salt’s six-year reign was marked by a controversial welcoming of trans girls.
Many members were concerned that biological boys, and male leaders, were entering a previously all-female space.
Only after Ms Salt’s departure from the organisation in June did Girlguiding announce earlier this month it would limit membership to ‘girls and young women’, in response to a Supreme Court ruling that biological sex is the key determinant of being a woman.
Another OBE goes to former House of Commons clerk of legislation Colin Lee, ‘for services to Parliament’.
Six years ago it was reported that he had been in ‘secret communication’ with Remainers plotting to suspend Britain’s departure from the EU by crafting unprecedented legislation.
And the chief digital and information officer at HMRC, Daljit Rehal, who three years ago was cited as an example of civil servants being ‘rewarded for failure’ when granted a £40,000 bonus, regardless of delays to the promised digitisation of tax returns, is being made a Companion of the Order of the Bath.
An OBE also goes to the former BBC chief content officer Charlotte Moore, who announced she was leaving her £475,000-a-year job in February.
It came amid the fury over a Gaza documentary narrated by a Hamas boss’s son, though her departure was said not to be linked to that scandal.
