Theresa May must reward Rio Olympic heroes and rid the honours system of cronyism
IT’S music to our ears that Theresa May wants all of our Olympic heroes given the gongs they deserve.
But she should seize this golden opportunity to purge the honours system of the sickening cronyism of the past.
Her spokeswoman rightly says it “should be about recognising and rewarding great achievements”. How far David Cameron and his predecessors strayed from that simple premise.
By no measure could leading the pro-EU campaign to defeat be judged a great achievement worthy of any award, let alone the CBE Will Straw copped.
Nor is filling Tory coffers worth a knighthood. Nor is advising a Prime Minister, forced to quit years before his time.
Honours should be for those who inspire Britain — Mo, Andy, Jason, Laura, Max and the like — and all the unsung heroes whose extraordinary contribution to the UK demands recognition.
Any politician with a sense of perspective knows who they are: not mates, party donors or civil service time-servers who should be embarrassed to reap the same awards as our Olympians.
Britain is certainly embarrassed by the broken system that honours them.
Fix it, Theresa — once and for all.
Borderline mad
THE Brexit verdict looks wiser every day.
Imagine if we still had to pay heed to Brussels blowhards like Jean-Claude Juncker — finally losing the plot yesterday by calling borders “the worst invention ever made by politicians”.
That prize should, of course, go to the EU’s own reinvention as a grand political project, instead of the trading arrangement its citizens were initially sold. Juncker’s elevation to its head is up there with the worst decisions too.
What possessed the EU to appoint this delusional old hippy, blind to the chaos open borders have caused?
Here, meanwhile — despite the Remainers’ continued whining — once-gloomy economists are rapidly changing tack.
Growth forecasts revised upwards. Firms increasingly confident. Tourism booming. EU leaders terrified we will now slash taxes and out-compete them.
No one should pretend we’re in the clear. But the future is brighter outside than in.
Radio head
WHAT has James Purnell ever done to merit being gifted control of BBC Radio?
He is a former Blairite policy wonk, with the usual PPE degree from Oxford and lack of real life experience, who joined the Cabinet before flouncing off once Gordon Brown took over.
Now he’s the hot tip to run all non-news radio programming at the Beeb.
What shows has he made? Is he seriously the best candidate? Has the BBC cast around for another?
Or is he just the perfect fit because of his connections and his left-wing politics?