Boris Johnson’s father appears set to be made a knight in his son’s resignation honours list, prompting accusations that the former prime minister has discredited the honours system. News of the apparent nomination, which was all but confirmed by Boris Johnson’s sister, Rachel, and not denied by a spokesperson for the ex-PM, has prompted anger, with Keir Starmer calling the idea “absolutely outrageous”. It has refocused attention on the much-delayed resignation honours list, which has yet to be published but is reported to run to nearly 100 names, including peerages for a series of loyalist MPs and former staff members. It will not, however, include any honours for Rachel Johnson or for Boris Johnson’s wife, Carrie. Previous reports had suggested he was considering honours for both. In an earlier awards list as prime minister, Johnson made his brother, Jo Johnson, a peer, as he did two close friends – the former Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith and the newspaper proprietor Evgeny Lebedev. The proposed knighthood for Stanley Johnson could create significantly more anger, in part because of the lack of apparent merit but also because of allegations about his behaviour. In 2021, the Tory MP Caroline Nokes publicly accused the former MEP of touching her at a Conservative party conference in 2003. Nokes, the chair of the Commons women and equalities committee, accused him of forcefully smacking her on the bottom and making a vulgar comment. Similar allegations were made by the political journalist Ailbhe Rea, while another journalist, Isabel Oakeshott, described him as “handsy”. He denied all the claims. A biography of Boris Johnson by the journalist Tom Bower, published in 2020, included allegations that his father had a violent temper and on one occasion broke his wife Charlotte’s nose. Stanley Johnson declined to comment at the time. A spokesperson for Boris Johnson did not respond when asked if Stanley Johnson had been nominated. When asked about the idea, Rachel Johnson pointedly did not discount it, and defended a possible knighthood given the work she said her father had done for the Tory party and the environment. “People can draw their own conclusions, please don’t ask me to, as it were, sit in judgment on it,” she told the News Agents podcast. “Because it literally is too close. You’re talking about my brother and my father. That is a decision that my brother has made with regards my father or not.” Starmer said the idea of Stanley Johnson being knighted was “ridiculous”. The Labour leader told LBC radio: “It’s classic of a man like Johnson. I mean, I think the public will just think this is absolutely outrageous. The idea of an ex-prime minister bestowing honours on his dad – for services to what?” The shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, said Boris Johnson had “discredited the honours system, discredited the office of prime minister”. Wendy Chamberlain, the Liberal Democrats’ chief whip, said the idea of a knighthood for Stanley Johnson “makes a mockery” of the honours system, and she called on Rishi Sunak to veto the entire list. However, Sunak’s official spokesperson said the honours list would go ahead. “There are longstanding rules that guide the honours process. The PM has no plans to change those that I’m aware of. And obviously it’s a matter of fact that outgoing prime ministers are able to nominate people in this way,” the spokesperson said. The list is going through Cabinet Office vetting. According to reports, among those in line for peerages are the former culture secretary Nadine Dorries and the former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre. Other reports have said peerages could also go to Ross Kempsell, 30, who formerly worked for Rupert Murdoch’s TalkTV station as political editor, and subsequently for Conservative central office and for Johnson, and to Charlotte Owen, one of the ex-prime minister’s former assistants who is understood to be in her late 20s.