Tony Blair’s knighthood is deserved; now reform honours system – David Blunkett

Assiduous readers of The Yorkshire Post may have noticed that I have a slight obsession. Namely, the way in which official honours are distributed both geographically, and for what?!

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Before anyone says it out loud – yes, I have a peerage. It’s not awarded as an honour but as a “working peerage” nominated by the leader of the Labour Party at the time.

Those who have given so much during the Covid pandemic would be a good example of those who deserve recognition.

But unfortunately, where you live, and not what you do, makes an enormous difference. Not just to whether you have the chance of receiving that accolade, but at what level your reward will be given.

For some time now, I’ve been questioning the Government about the distribution of honours across the country. The regional differences are staggering.

Take London and the South-East. The figures for the New Year Honours 2021 saw this region receive 33.2 per cent of all awards and half of all awards of CBE and above. In the Birthday Honours 2021, the figures were 36.8 per cent and 60.9 per cent respectively.

The breakdown for this New Year is somewhat more encouraging, but 40 per cent of the higher honours – Knighthoods, DBEs and the like – went to those in London.

Yorkshire as a whole fared better than last year but regrettably not in Sheffield and South Yorkshire where no one got an award above OBE.

However, one outstanding and heart-warming award is the British Empire Medal for its youngest ever recipient, 11-year-old Tobias Weller from Sheffield.

Tobias has cerebral palsy but this did not stop him raising £150,000 during the Covid lockdown – walking with the aid of his equipment and undertaking other challenging physical tasks showing his courage and tenacity. So, thumbs up, Tobias, for the spirit that should infuse all of us with a desire to do more than our best.

At the same time, we look at some of the awards with bewilderment. Yes, a knighthood for the Chief Medical Officer for England, Chris Whitty, and a second knighthood for Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser.

But a DBE for Jenny Harries, whose pronouncements of doom and gloom have been a cloud over my head for the last 21 months? She is, you may recall, now the Head of the Health Security Agency, which is responsible for Test and Trace – previously headed by that undoubted “success” Dido Harding, who happened to be awarded a place on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords for her previous, obviously outstanding, contribution to who knows what?

This year, controversy was whipped up about the knighthood for Tony Blair –Prime Minister for 10 years from 1997 to 2007. Now, there may be differences of opinion about the wisdom of joining the US in invading Iraq, or the catastrophic handling of the aftermath by the Americans.

You must, however, be extraordinarily prejudiced not to recognise Tony Blair’s contribution in bringing peace to Northern Ireland and the Good Friday Agreement; freedom for the Kosovans; and the most benign economic and social circumstances for a decade, which saw the transformation of public services, reduction in crime and unprecedented expansion of achievement in education.

I wonder how many of the hundreds of thousands who have signed a petition objecting to the award really do know just how much Tony Blair has given globally, irrespective of whether they agree with specific actions or policies.

My view is that all Prime Ministers who put the needs of the nation above their own personal elevation should be awarded proper recognition for the role they played.

It’s right for the Office of PM, and for acknowledging the tremendous personal commitment and sacrifice – which I know from having been close to it – that is made by a prime minister from any party.

Winston Churchill was both a revered and controversial figure, but nobody denied him public recognition of the role he played. Clement Attlee invented a little rhyme about having emerged from insignificance to ending up with three, very exclusive acknowledgements of his contribution – the Companion of Honour, the Order of Merit and an Earldom!

In 2022, I would like to see the elevation, to the higher ranks of the Birthday and New Year Honours, of those working, often unsung, in the community who give so much to keeping our society going.

I would like the distribution of those awards to be on merit and not just where you live and who you know.

I would like, in other words, the levelling up process to be seen and not just talked about. But I’m not holding my breath.

A belated, but nevertheless heartfelt, Happy New Year to all, and in all kinds of ways, including health. May it be a better one than last year.

David Blunkett is a Labour peer and a former Home Secretary.

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