Today’s Honours List, long in the making, has a stench of Johnsonian croneyism about it, or as socialist historians like myself are apt to refer to it, Old Corruption.
Some names who had been nominated such as Tom Watson and John Bercow have been rejected and whether that is agreed with or not there is a fairly good idea about why that it is (which you can Google).
More puzzling perhaps is the absence of Chair of Wetherspoons Tim Martin.
Martin has been a leading and vocal supporter of Brexit like most others on the list. When Johnson became Tory Leader in the summer of 2019 there was much talk of Martin’s elevation. There has been less in 2020 but then other matters have rather preoccupied everyone.
With recently proposed changes to Small Brewers Duty Relief which benefits larger Regional breweries over smaller craft ones. perhaps a policy decision has been made that the Tories interest in beer lies with brewers (known as the Beerage) and not Pub Companies which really arose after Mrs Thatcher’s Beer Orders.
Or maybe Martin’s distinctive hairstyle is too much competition for Johnson’s dishevelled style.
Still Wetherspoons still have a pub in Whitehall called Lord Moon of the Mall with a picture of Tim Martin on the sign..
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