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From William Cobbett to Theresa May: ‘Old Corruption’ persists
The corrupt and corrupting honours system evokes the era of ‘rotten boroughs’ from two centuries past, writes historian KEITH FLETT
Prime Minister Theresa May talks with Conservative MP for Wokingham John Redwood

THE decision by Theresa May to award a knighthood to veteran Tory MP and free marketeer John Redwood is of course nothing whatsoever to do with recognising what he has added to national life over the decades.

His most notable contribution in that respect was to fail to remember the words of the Welsh National Anthem when he was required to sing it during the period he was Tory Welsh Secretary in the 1990s. There is a clip online and it is funny but not I think worthy of a knighthood in itself.

Rather the Prime Minister has in mind the narrow political calculations of the Tory Party in 2018 as she attempts to push her Brexit deal through Parliament.

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