Former British prime minister Liz Truss has rewarded "champions for the Conservative causes of freedom" in her long-awaited resignation honours list.
The list had been fraught with controversy even before being published, with calls for Rishi Sunak to block the handout of honours given the short-lived nature of Ms Truss' premiership.
Ms Truss resigned in October last year after the fallout from her disastrous mini-budget, becoming the UK's shortest-serving prime minister after just 49 days in office.
The list, which had been long-delayed, was published by the Government at the same time as a slew of separate New Year Honours.
It also comes in the middle of the Commons Christmas recess with MPs away from Westminster, with Number 10 likely hoping to minimise any fallout from the publication of the honours.
Tory donor Jon Moynihan, Ms Truss's deputy chief of staff in Number 10 Ruth Porter and former chief executive of the Vote Leave Brexit campaign Matthew Elliott have all been recommended for peerages.
Mr Moynihan donated £20,000 (€23,000) to Ms Truss's leadership campaign in 2021.
Meanwhile, novelist Shirley Ida Conran, who is also on the list, donated £5,000 (€5,700) to Ms Truss to support activity in her constituency, according to the public register of interest.
Ms Conran could become a dame for her services to mathematics education as founder of the Maths Anxiety Trust.
The honour would see Ms Conran, who was previously made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), receive the same honour as Jilly Cooper received in the New Year Honours list.
Labour has branded the list a "slap in the face to working people" while the Liberal Democrats have described it as a "shameless move".
MP for Thurrock Jacqueline Doyle-Price is recommended for a damehood following her service as Minister of State for Industry.
Another of Ms Truss' colleagues Alec Shelbrooke, MP for Elmet and Rothwell, has been recommended for a knighthood for his political service as Minister of State for Defence Procurement.
Other honours in the list include Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for former special advisers Sophie Ina Jarvis and Shabbir Riyaz Merali, an OBE for Robert Butler, MP for Aylesbury, and Suzanne Webb, MP for Stourbridge, and a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for Conservative Association chairman in South West Norfolk David Hills.
Since leaving office, Ms Truss has continued to defend and build on her brand of conservatism, making a bid to find a solution to stagnant growth in the UK and elsewhere.
Following the publication of her resignation honours list, Ms Truss said: "I am delighted these champions for the Conservative causes of freedom, limited government and a proud and sovereign Britain have been suitably honoured."
Labour's shadow cabinet office minister Jonathan Ashworth MP said: "This list is proof positive of Rishi Sunak's weakness and a slap in the face to working people who are paying the price of the Tories crashing the economy.
"Honours should be for those committed to public service, not rewards for Tory failure. Rather than apologise for crashing the economy and driving up mortgages rates, costing families thousands, Rishi Sunak has nodded through these tarnished gongs because he is too weak to lead a Tory Party completely out of touch with working people."
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: "This shameless move to reward Liz Truss's car crash cronies is matched only by Sunak's weakness in failing to block it.
"Truss handing out gongs after blowing a hole in the public finances and leaving families reeling from spiralling mortgage costs calls this whole honours system into disrepute.
"The honours system should celebrate hardworking people who have achieved great things; sullying this celebration shows just how out of touch this Conservative government really is."
