Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925: Difference between revisions
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The '''Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925''' is an [[Act of Parliament|Act]] of the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]], that makes the sale of [[peerage]]s or any other [[British honours system|honours]] illegal. |
The '''Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925''' is an [[Act of Parliament|Act]] of the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]], that makes the sale of [[peerage]]s or any other [[British honours system|honours]] illegal. |
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==Lloyd George honours scandal== |
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The act was brought in after the Coalition government of [[David Lloyd George]] was severely embarrassed by the sale of honours, for the personal financial gain of the Prime Minister.<ref>T. A. Jenkins, "The funding of the Liberal Unionist party and the honours system." ''English Historical Review'' 105.417 (1990): 920-938.</ref> The practice was legal and dated back several decades partly for [[new money]] to discreetly acquire titles;<ref>Harold J. Hanham, "The sale of honours in late Victorian England." ''Victorian Studies'' 3#3 (1960): 277-289.</ref> Lloyd George made the practice more systematic and more brazen, charging £10,000 for a knighthood, £30,000 for baronetcy, and £50,000 upwards for a peerage.<ref>{{cite book|last=Rowland|first=Peter|title=Lloyd George|year=1975|publisher=Barrie & Jenkins Ltd|location=London|isbn=0214200493|page=448|chapter=The Man Who Won the War, 1916-1918}}</ref><ref>Peter Rowland, ''Lloyd George'' (1975) p 448.</ref> The practice came to a halt with the notorious 1922 Birthday List, which contained a Barony for [[Sir Joseph Robinson, 1st Baronet|Sir Joseph Robinson]], a South African gold and diamond magnate who had been convicted of fraud and fined half a million pounds a few months earlier,<ref name="Commons 2004">{{cite web | last=Commons | first=House of | title=Fifth Report of the Select Committee on Public Administration| website=Public Administration | date=2004-07-07 | url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmpubadm/212/21206.htm}}</ref> as well as Sir William Vestey, a multi millionaire meat importer notorious for his tax evasion.<ref name="Rubinstein 2003 p. 125">{{cite book | last=Rubinstein | first=W.D. | title=Twentieth-Century Britain: A Political History | publisher=Palgrave Macmillan | year=2003 | isbn=978-0-230-62913-4 | url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=8M0cBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA125 |page=125}}</ref> |
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Prime Minister Lloyd George in mid-1922 was fast losing his political support, and his sales were denounced in the House of Lords as an abuse of the [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]]'s powers of patronage.<ref>{{cite book|author=Travis L. Crosby|title=The Unknown David Lloyd George: A Statesman in Conflict|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MIW9AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA330|year=2014|publisher=I.B.Tauris|page=330}}</ref> |
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Only one person has ever been convicted under the Act —[[Maundy Gregory]], Lloyd George's "honours broker", in 1933— whose same behaviour in 1918 was the main cause of the Act in the first place. Gregory's 1933 conviction was secured over his attempts to broker the selling of Vatican knighthoods in the UK. To this date, the Act has never been successfully used to convict anyone involved in the sale of UK honours. |
Only one person has ever been convicted under the Act —[[Maundy Gregory]], Lloyd George's "honours broker", in 1933— whose same behaviour in 1918 was the main cause of the Act in the first place. Gregory's 1933 conviction was secured over his attempts to broker the selling of Vatican knighthoods in the UK. To this date, the Act has never been successfully used to convict anyone involved in the sale of UK honours. |
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Revision as of 08:56, 14 August 2021
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| Long title | An Act for the prevention of abuses in connection with the Grant of Honours. |
|---|---|
| Citation | 15 & 16 Geo. 5 c. 72 |
| Introduced by | The Marquess of Salisbury |
| Territorial extent | United Kingdom |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 7 August 1925 |
| Commencement | 7 August 1925 |
| Other legislation | |
| Relates to | Prevention of Corruption Act 1906, Bribery Act 2010 |
Status: Current legislation | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Text of the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk. | |
The Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that makes the sale of peerages or any other honours illegal.
Lloyd George honours scandal
The act was brought in after the Coalition government of David Lloyd George was severely embarrassed by the sale of honours, for the personal financial gain of the Prime Minister.[2] The practice was legal and dated back several decades partly for new money to discreetly acquire titles;[3] Lloyd George made the practice more systematic and more brazen, charging £10,000 for a knighthood, £30,000 for baronetcy, and £50,000 upwards for a peerage.[4][5] The practice came to a halt with the notorious 1922 Birthday List, which contained a Barony for Sir Joseph Robinson, a South African gold and diamond magnate who had been convicted of fraud and fined half a million pounds a few months earlier,[6] as well as Sir William Vestey, a multi millionaire meat importer notorious for his tax evasion.[7]
Prime Minister Lloyd George in mid-1922 was fast losing his political support, and his sales were denounced in the House of Lords as an abuse of the Prime Minister's powers of patronage.[8]
Only one person has ever been convicted under the Act —Maundy Gregory, Lloyd George's "honours broker", in 1933— whose same behaviour in 1918 was the main cause of the Act in the first place. Gregory's 1933 conviction was secured over his attempts to broker the selling of Vatican knighthoods in the UK. To this date, the Act has never been successfully used to convict anyone involved in the sale of UK honours.
2006: Cash for honours
In March 2006, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that, following complaints by the Scottish National Party and others, they were investigating possible breaches of the Act. A total of £14 million in loans was given by wealthy individuals to Labour during the 2005 general election campaign and four of these men were subsequently nominated for Life Peerages.
See also
- Cash for Honours, in 21st century politics
- Political funding in the United Kingdom
References
- ^ Short title as conferred by s. 2 of the Act; the modern convention for the citation of short titles omits the comma after the word "Act"
- ^ T. A. Jenkins, "The funding of the Liberal Unionist party and the honours system." English Historical Review 105.417 (1990): 920-938.
- ^ Harold J. Hanham, "The sale of honours in late Victorian England." Victorian Studies 3#3 (1960): 277-289.
- ^ Rowland, Peter (1975). "The Man Who Won the War, 1916-1918". Lloyd George. London: Barrie & Jenkins Ltd. p. 448. ISBN 0214200493.
- ^ Peter Rowland, Lloyd George (1975) p 448.
- ^ Commons, House of (2004-07-07). "Fifth Report of the Select Committee on Public Administration". Public Administration.
- ^ Rubinstein, W.D. (2003). Twentieth-Century Britain: A Political History. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 125. ISBN 978-0-230-62913-4.
- ^ Travis L. Crosby (2014). The Unknown David Lloyd George: A Statesman in Conflict. I.B.Tauris. p. 330.
Further reading
- Jenkins, T. A. "The funding of the Liberal Unionist party and the honours system." English Historical Review 105.417 (1990): 920–938. in JSTOR
- Hanham, H.J. "The sale of honours in late Victorian England." Victorian Studies 3#3 (1960): 277–289. in JSTOR
- Rowland, Peter. Lloyd George (1975) pp 447–48, 574–78, 631–33.
External links
- Text of the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.
- BBC News article about the announcement of the investigation
- Posting from the blog of BBC News political editor Nick Robinson about the Act and the possibility of prosecutions, 21 March 2006.
- Parliamentary briefing document on the awarding of Honours, September 2004 (PDF document)
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