LONDON — The opposition Labour Party isn’t amused by a war of words between Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his predecessor-but-one Boris Johnson.
The two Conservative politicians are locked in an escalating row over a bid by Johnson — who quit as an MP Friday with a blast at Sunak and a separate parliamentary probe into his conduct — to put his allies in the unelected House of Lords.
Their feud centers on Johnson’s resignation honors list, which allows a departing prime minister to appoint people to the second chamber and gift them titles. The appointments, vetted by the House of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC), had to be cleared by the British prime minister.
Sunak has claimed Johnson asked him to “do something that I wasn’t prepared to do” by defying the vetting committee — but the former PM has argued Sunak is “talking rubbish.” It’s the latest sign of bad blood between Johnson and Sunak, who was once Johnson’s top finance minister.
Labour hopes to capitalize. Asked Wednesday about the row, Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the government is distracted by the Conservative Party bust-up.
“Rishi Sunak is too weak to lead [the government]. Even if he is trying to focus on the issues of the day, he’s being dragged off with the clown show,” Streeting told Times Radio.
Some allies who had been expecting rewards in Johnson’s list Friday were left empty-handed, with two quitting as MPs this weekend — teeing up tricky by-elections for Sunak’s party.
One of those allies, the ex-Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, has accused Sunak of “duplicitously and cruelly” blocking her elevation to the Lords.
Streeting said he doubted the U.K. public would be “losing much sleep” over the issue, as mortgage rates and food prices climb.
“As for the complaints about peerages, given what the country is going through, I think people will be getting out the world’s smallest violin,” Streeting said.