Honours - key questions answered by the SNP - but none by Labour! Put up or shut up, Cathy Jamieson and Johann Lamont!

Monday 8th August 2011

HONOURS - LABOUR SHOULD PUT UP OR SHUT UP

LABOUR KNEW SNP MINISTERS DO NOT NOMINATE

The SNP today said Labour should put up or shut up over their smears regarding the award of honours.

SNP Ministers put an end to the process of ministers making nominations when elected in 2007 and the First Minister even rescinded his right to approve the decisions of the permanent secretary.  This was confirmed to Labour in a Parliamentary answer in 2009 to a Labour MSP which also sets out where nominations can come from.

Following the latest desperate Labour attack SNP MP Angus MacNeil said:

“Labour should put up or shut up.

“Labour ministers admit they made nominations for honours so they should tell us who they nominated before it’s revealed under Freedom of Information.

“Second, instead of sending out ridiculous smears, if Labour has evidence that Scottish Government Ministers sought a nomination for anyone since 2007 then they should put that evidence in the public domain.  SNP Ministers do not and have not made nominations as Labour well know.

“Just as Labour try to throw stones over News International without offering full disclosure themselves they are playing hypocritical games instead of making positive contributions the future of Scotland.

“It’s time to get beyond childish and baseless allegations.  The SNP is focussed on a bright and better future for Scotland and our Ministers are getting on with doing their jobs including a public question and answer session today engaging with real people and a cabinet meeting focussed on Scotland’s economic growth not playing silly political games.”

END

Notes

The Parliamentary Answer showing that SNP Ministers had chosen not to exercise the right to approve the recommendations by the Permanent Secretary is as follows:

Question S3W-21587 - George Foulkes ( Lothians ) (Scottish Labour ) (Date Lodged 04/03/2009 ) : 

To ask the Scottish Executive what the arrangements are in Scotland for consideration of nominations for honours and what changes there have been since May 2007.

Answered by John Swinney ( 25/03/2009 ):

Nominations are received from a variety of sources, including members of the public, outside organisations and Lord-Lieutenants. Prior to May 2007, Scottish ministers added their own nominations to those from other sources. Nominations from all sources are initially assessed by Scottish Government officials who assist the Permanent Secretary in preparing recommendations for the UK-wide selection committees to consider. Since May 2007, the First Minister has chosen not to exercise the right to approve the recommendations by the Permanent Secretary. The UK-wide selection committees submit their recommendations to HM The Queen through the Prime Minister.

Honours, Salmond and Souter - get the questions right.

The UK Government has a number of honours committees - UK Honours Committees - to consider nominations for honours. Remember it is the United Kingdom Honours Committee and the Head of State of that kingdom is the Her Majesty the Queen, and it is she who confers the honour. Whether she can veto a nomination from the Committees, and whether she has ever done so is unknown. My guess is that she theoretically has a veto, has never exercised it formally, but that her views are known to the Committees well before the formal recommendation is made.

Since I do not stalk the corridors of power and am never to be seen in the inner sanctums, my speculation is worth precisely nothing. But I can say one thing with absolute confidence - since the Queen approves the honour and confers it, she has, de facto, given her approval and endorsement to the person receiving it. If I may choose a completely uncontroversial example, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II laid her sword on the shoulder of commoner Brian Souter  and made him a Knight of the Realm, Sir Brian Souter, and in doing so gave her Royal approval to the man and to the reasons advanced for his nomination.

Does Cathy Jamieson MP, or the Labour Party in Scotland wish to challenge that?

Brian Souter is controversial because of his views on gays and what he calls the promotion of homosexuality.

Does Cathy Jamieson MP, or the Labour Party, suggest that Her Majesty the Queen is anti-gay, and a fundamentalist Christian because she knighted Brain Souter, successful businessman and a major contributor to the Scottish and UK economies?

The civil servant who wrote to Cathy Jamieson said that the Scottish Government nominated Brian Souter. The Scottish Government says that it was the Independent Honours Committee of the Scottish Government who nominated him, presumably to the relevant UK Honours Committee.

Who nominated Brian Souter to the Independent Honours Committee of the Scottish Government? Or did they just come up with his name on their own initiative, go online and nominate him to the UK Committee, just as any citizen or group may apparently do?

The UK Honours Committee online site - Nominations to UK Honours Committees - offers helpful advice to those considering a nomination -

Before you make your nomination, ask yourself the following questions. Has your nominee:

• made a difference to their community or field of work?
• brought distinction to British life and enhanced its reputation?
• exemplified the best sustained and selfless voluntary service?
• demonstrated innovation and entrepreneurship?
• carried the respect of their peers?
• changed things, with an emphasis on achievement?
• improved the lot of those less able to help themselves?
• displayed moral courage and vision in making and delivering tough choices?

The question arises - who nominated Brian Souter to the Independent Honours Committee, and for what reasons?

Did Brian Souter, now Sir Brian Souter, meet any or all of these criteria?

Clearly, the person or persons making the original nomination to the Scottish Independent Honours Committee (who was not a minister of the Scottish Government since they are debarred from doing so) thought so.

Clearly, the Scottish Independent Honours Committee (whoever they are, because I’m buggered if I can find out!) thought so, because they submitted the nomination to the UK Committee.

Clearly, the UK Honours Committee thought so, because they submitted their recommendation to Her Majesty.

Clearly, Her Majesty the Queen thought so, because she didn’t veto the nomination, and duly dubbed commoner Brian Souter knight - making him Sir Brian.

But Cathy Jamieson MP doesn’t think he deserves his knighthood, and questions the process and its integrity, and so does the Scottish Labour Party, and for all we know, Ed Miliband.

I applaud Cathy Jamieson’s courage - some may say her foolhardiness - in questioning the judgement of the UK Honours System, and implicitly of  the Queen herself, and therefore the Union that the Labour Party is pledged to uphold. This is indeed political bravery of a kind rarely in evidence, least of all in the Labour Party.

This ancient system, the bedrock of the imposing edifice of unelected power, birth and privilege that protects the UK from the worst excesses of democracy and the electorate, has been fooled all the way along the line, and only the perspicacity of Cathy Jamieson MP can save it.

Surely this is worth a Damehood and a seat in the Lords? 

But a last question, one that I asked yesterday -

Why is the Scottish National Party getting involved at all in a system that is designed, in everything it does, to protect and embed a non-elected power structure that is totally and utterly hostile to the values and objective of the SNP?

SUMMARY OF QUESTIONS

Does Cathy Jamieson MP, or the Labour Party in Scotland wish to challenge the Queen’s decision to knight Brian Souter?

Does Cathy Jamieson MP, or the Labour Party, suggest that Her Majesty the Queen is anti-gay, and a fundamentalist Christian because she knighted Brian Souter, successful businessman and a major contributor to the Scottish and UK economies?

Who nominated Brian Souter to the Scottish Independent Honours Committee, and for what reasons?

Did Brian Souter, now Sir Brian Souter, meet any or all of the UK Honours Committee’s criteria for nomination?

Why is the Scottish National Party getting involved at all in a system that is designed, in everything it does, to protect and embed a non-elected power structure that is totally and utterly hostile to the values and objective of the SNP?