Kmflett's Blog

‘Sir’ Geoffrey Boycott, Old Corruption & the Honours system

It has been reported that Geoffrey Boycott the former England cricketer and now commentator has been awarded a Knighthood in Theresa May’s resignation Honours List.

Of course Boycott was a formidable cricketer and May is a cricket fan but his Knighthood is, one suspects, to do as much with his views on Brexit. May sometimes quoted Boycott in speeches outside 10 Downing St.

There was a reason why Boycott was not honoured before and it can be found in his Wikipedia entry under ‘relationships, court case’

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Boycott#Relationships,_court_case

I don’t think Boycott has ever admitted any guilt here and said on Radio 4’s Today  programme that he didnt give ‘toss’ about his domestic violence conviction.

Of course since then he has fought cancer and survived to continue his commentary career.

The two are not equivalents in any sense but factors in understanding the life of a complex character as so many of us are.

The key point here however is not Boycott at best a deeply flawed individual but the honours system itself. It is an outdated way of recognising public worth and should be abolished. No doubt other ways of marking contributions to public life can be found.

It suggests rather, perhaps to great no surprise, that Theresa May’s Tory Party (which no longer exists) was characterised by the Old Corruption described by William Cobbett where people advanced because of who they were and who they knew rather than on merit.

Geoffrey Boycott’s career has merit with downsides but ultimately it was who he knew that mattered.