Tory donor John Booth handed leading role in choosing arts and media honours

theguardian.com:

A Tory donor has been handed a prominent role at the heart of the UK’s honours system, the Observer can reveal.

In a move that provoked immediate claims of political interference, John Booth, a venture capital investor who has given the party more than £200,000, has been made the “independent chair” of the committee that oversees honours in the arts and media. The role means he will also sit on the main honours committee, which considers all awards.

Booth, who had already been appointed chair of the National Gallery last year, was quietly installed as chair of the arts and media honours committee this month. It comes after complaints that cultural posts have been handed to people close to the Conservative party.

The Observer has highlighted a series of positions handed to donors, after an attempt at the start of Johnson’s premiership to help “rebalance the representation” on public bodies. Donors have been appointed to the boards of the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the Tate and the British Museum.

As chair of the arts and media committee, Booth will have a key role in the list of names put forward for gongs. There are concerns that any political interference could lead to the exclusion of those critical of the government or the championing of others seen as promoting its agenda. Booth donated some £207,000 to the Tories in 2017, according to Electoral Commission records.

Also given a place on the arts and media honours committee is Samir Shah, a former BBC executive who was a commissioner for the much-criticised report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, which concluded that the “claim the country is still institutionally racist is not borne out by the evidence”. He also criticised “woke