Admission:- I am not a major fan of the honours system but...........at the age of 83 my late mother was awarded MBE for services to the community. She ran her local Citizens` Advice Bureau for over twenty years. She was immensely proud of these three letters and was known to occasionally let others be aware of her pride. She thoroughly deserved that royal recognition and others who have been similarly awarded are likewise held in high regard in their communities and rightly so. However, when the prime ministers responsible for the recommendations of the highest public awards do so in act akin to the showering of confetti at a bridal party the smugness and aloofness of their position should be intolerable. It isn`t. Twice yearly undeserving gong seekers are bestowed with their lifelong dream irrespective of their worthiness. From failed politicians and former MPs being given a meal ticket until death in the House of Lords to those who have been miserable failures in their often public positions the tale seems endless. In the recent so called honours list no recipient has least deserved this form of recognition than Alison Saunders; recently retired head of the CPS. I first posted on her 13th April 2015; 10th October 2016 was her next appearance followed by 10th October 2017 . Under her so called leadership rape prosecutions fell apart owing directly to police and CPS failures to disclose evidence to the defence that might have assisted in defence counsel arguing their clients` innocence. She had succumbed to the "rape lobby" in their spurious arguments that far too many men were "getting away with it" and was determined to increase the conviction rate by whatever means were within her power. Between 2014 and 2016 disclosure errors in such trials increased by 70%. She failed three times to convict defendants accused of female genital mutilation. Of sinister import under Operation Elveden 34 journalists were arrested and 29 charged with making payments to public officials. Many were on bail for years in a legal limbo while CPS tried to build a valid case. None was convicted. There was a similar scandal under Operation Yewtree concerning historical sexual abuse claims later dismissed. Her period in office was nothing short of a shambles. In any non civil service employment she would have been fired for incompetence but in our society where feather bedded politicians and senior civil servants looking at their own futures behave as their Victorian forefathers did such direct actions are few and very far between. The current suggestions by Dominic Cummings, number one advisor to the prime minister, seeking weirdos out of the box to advise Tory policy might not be to everyone`s taste but they are a straightforward reaction to the very situation that allowed Saunders to keep her job. But the fact that she has been made Dame Alison in the new years honours list is a scandal too far. Tax payers have funded her pension pot of £1.8 million while she has walked into a six figure figure salary at Linklaters. The whole process stinks.
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