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UK: Father’s Day card but no knighthood for my dad, says Sunak

British PM makes light of controversy over the resignation honours’ list of former prime minister Johnson

  • Reuters
  • Updated: Fri 10 Mar 2023, 10:04 PM
Rishi Sunak speaks during a joint news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron (not pictured) at the Elysee Palace in Paris. — Reuters

Rishi Sunak speaks during a joint news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron (not pictured) at the Elysee Palace in Paris. — Reuters

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Friday said that he would give his dad a Father’s Day card but no knighthood, making light of controversy over the resignation honours’ list of former prime minister Boris Johnson.

Johnson has nominated his father Stanley for a knighthood in the list of honours he can grant as an outgoing leader, the Times newspaper reported on Monday, drawing accusations of cronyism.


“For me a big success is remembering to get my dad a card on Father’s Day, so that is probably about my limit of it,” Sunak told reporters on a trip to Paris, when asked if he would ever give honours to his family members.

“My dad’s going to get a card on Father’s Day and that is about that.”


Sunak resigned as finance minister days before Johnson was forced to say he would step down as prime minister, fuelling a rift between the two. Johnson has said he would struggle to back Sunak’s new deal over post-Brexit trade, saying his approach would work better.

But Sunak declined to be drawn on the specific issues around Johnson’s resignation honours list.

“I’m not going to comment on speculation,” he said “I don’t see these things until I see them so it is hard for me to say any more than that.”


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